RWBY: Desertion
by DatRtfantho
Summary: Gage Sim deserted the kingdoms, for unknown reasons... So, he's been living by himself on the outskirts of mount Glenn for a long time. But one day, he finds four Girls, who call themselves Team RWBY. Can Yang, and the rest of her team help Gage reconcile with his past? And what new secret has one of his new friends been hiding from him? Rated M for BOTH reasons, and mostly canon
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** i'm going to convert to this story while I think for more plot points for RWBY:ODSTS. Btw I have been planning this for months, but never got around to publishing this, so here it is. This is going to take place after the Volume 2 finale, and this is mostly going to be from the OC's and Team RWBY's point of view.

Btw again, this is basically one of the first things I've written besides school stuff, and in

RWBY:ODSTS I have a lot of source material. PLZ Review if you get the chance, but don't be a dick about it. Criticism will be taken lightly

**Disclaimer:** I do not own RWBY, they belong Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross. (I think thats how you spell it.) and Roosterteeth.

Team RWBY

Three weeks after attack on Vale

Team RWBY was assigned to return to mount Glenn, without a huntsman, to scout out and eliminate all the grimm in the area so the Elysium army could investigate the white fang's staging area.

"Hey Yang? Are you okay?" Ruby asked. While Zwei was barking at Yang

She asked because her sister had bags under her eyes, and she seemed tired. "Yeah, im fine Ruby. I Just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." Yang rubbed her eyes, which were red, not out of anger, but because she hasn't slept for 3 days. "Okay, just tell me if we need to stop, I don't want you to fall asleep in front of an Ursa."

Team RWBY believed they cleared the rest of the city out, but Yang thought killing Grim would help her clear her mind. "Okay I think thats the last of them." Blake said. They were at the lower part of the city, so it was closer to where most of the Grim would thrive. Yang looked over a ledge and saw a forest. There was rumbling coming from it, and then Zwei started to bark again as something huge came up above the trees... "WHOA! WHAT'S THAT?" Yang yelled. "That's a Goliath." Ruby said. "It doesn't look focused on us, so lets leave before it does see us." Weiss interrupted their conversation. "But what if it decides to come over here? Its by itself! We should take it down just in case!" Yang then Jumped off the edge and started to sprint into the forest. "Wait! Dont go alone!"

Gage Sim

1 Year 6 months after desertion

Gage was sleeping, for once, and was dreaming about that day, the day they came to the door, and told him what happened. H remembered what one of the men said, "I'm so sorry, no one this your age should have to go through this." He couldn't believe it happened...Again.

Gage woke up, then he remembered where he was, perched up in a tree branch, it was still daytime, then he remembered that he was still alone, but he didn't care.

He tried to close his eyes again, but there were tears in them, and he didn't know why. "What the?" He wiped the tears, "I've been awake for almost a month! I can't fucking sleep without being reminde-" He was then interrupted by a series of small explosions, and the Roar from a Goliath's trunk. "Shit!"

He then stood up and looked above the treeline, and saw the Goliath trying to stab something with it's tusks. "Who could be that stupid?" Gage then used the other tree branches around him to head towards the Giant grim.

Yang tried to shoot the over-sized elephant in the eyes, but all it did was piss it off. It then tried to squish her, but Yang dodged its foot.

"Hey Jackass! I've seen a boarbatusk fight better than you!" The Goliath responded to Yang's insult by knocking her off of her feet with it's tusks. She tried to get up, and when she did, all she saw was shadow of the Goliath's trunk.

She then blinked, and saw a green silhouette standing in front of her. Yang then heard something fall and land right next to her with a loud thud. "You dont want her! You want me! I just cut off your fucking trunk!" Yang listened to the silhouette's voice... it was a man. She started to stand up, but he turned and pushed her back down. "Stay down!" He yelled

He then disappeared as the Goliath's tusks swung above her head. She looked up at the Goliath and saw a Man dressed in green, with a shotgun on his back, and a hood over his head, standing on one of the Goliath's Tusks. He turned toward Yang. "Let me show you how it's done"

The man pulled a curved knife out of a holster on his right leg. Then the Goliath tried to shake him off, so the man grabbed on to its tusks, used it to swing below the grimm's chin, where he used the knife to stab at its skin and move closer to its lower neck. He stabbed into it's neck and the Goliath jerked its head, but the man used the Goliath's momentum to cut through and up the left side of it's neck, and landed on top of it's head. He put his knife into it's neck again, and ran toward the right side of its neck. " its Now or Never!" He yelled. He then got to the edge of it's neck, and when he did, he jumped off of the Goliath, turned around let one more slash into it's neck, which tore its flesh, connected with the other cuts, and decapitated it.

The man activated his Aura before he hit the ground, which cushioned the impact. Yang stood up and looked at him while he was walking towards her. The Goliath's head fell on to the field behind him.

Yang heard barking from behind her. "Yang! What was that all about?!" Ruby said as Zwei, Weiss, and Blake stopped behind her. "And who's... that?" Ruby asked about the man in front of Yang. He was wearing brown jeans, Brown fingerless gloves, a desert tan hoodie with the hood covering his head, a Sage leather jacket over the hoodie, and a Sage bandana wrapped around his face

"Stay back Ruby!"Yang then activated one of her Gauntlets and pointed it at the man. His curved knife then changed into a revolver and he pointed it at Yang. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down! I just saved you didn't I?" He yelled. "I could've taken him" Yang yelled at the man. "Explosives would just concuss him, a blade would kill him. The man said. Yang growled at him. "What's your name?" Ruby asked from behind her sister.

"Gage. Gage Sim."

He quickly examined the four starting with Ruby. "Small, but probably slow considering her weapon," he looked at Crescent Rose, and saw it's scope. "Sniper and a Scythe... probably heavy and bolt action, not a Problem."

Then Blake, who was holding both parts of Gambol Shroud. "dual wielding swords? Should be easy to disarm her." He looked at the Bow on her head and saw it twitch and bend backwards. "Hmm Dad was right, it is easy."

Next was Weiss, who was already in her fighting stance with Myrtenaster. "One handed, and Rapiers are mostly lightweight, so she'll be fast."

And finally, Yang who had one of Ember Celica's Gauntlet's pointed at him and the other one was trying to block Ruby's face "Hmm, Gauntlets are covering her knuckles.." he saw the shotgun shells lined around the outer shell of the gauntlet. "12 gauge, she must pack an explosive punch, so don't let her get near you."

"Wait a second, four of them, all look like they're a year younger than me, and they were trying to kill Grimm? They're Probably from Beacon!"

Gage lowered his revolver. "Okay, ill be the mature one." He then turned it back into it's knife form and sheathed it.

Yang growled at him again. "Good choice 'Gage', now hand them over! And don't pretend that I don't see that shotgun on your back!" Ruby then lowered Yangs hand that was in front of her face. "Yang why are you-" Yang turned to face Ruby, and when she did, Gage quickly rolled up his sleeves. "Because! I have to make sure Ruby!" Yang turned back around. "Start with the shotgun, Please."

Gage pulled it out of the holster on his back and handed it to Yang, so the barrel was facing him. "And the Knife!" She yelled as she flailed the shotgun around. "Okay! okay! Look at my hand!" He reached towards the sheath on his right leg with his left hand, took the sheath off, and started to handed it to Yang. She grabbed it, and waited for him to let go of it.

Gage looked at Yang and noticed something... different. "Lilac eyes? No, you're just delusional. Come on man, get your shit together. it's been five years, you've had time to mourn." he thought

Blake looked at his right hand and saw that he was about to close his fist, but he stopped, and let his fist open.

Gage let go of his weapon. "Don't cut yourself" he said as he put his hands in the air. "Okay, turn around!" Yang put his hands behind his back. "Now you're going to strip-search me, sweetheart?" Yang blushed slightly. "Yes, and instead of sweetheart you can just call me, SIR!' She then kicked the man in the groin, but instead of it hurting him, it hurt Yang instead. "OWWW!" Yang held her knee, "What Is in there?!" She yelled. "Just a Crotch plate!" Gage said while smirking.

Zwei Started to bark at Gage. "Can you calm him down? The last thing we want is to attract more attention." Ruby petted Zwei and calmed him down, she then looked around and noticed that there wasn't any buildings around, only trees.

"Uh Yang? How do we get back to the city from here?" Ruby asked. Blake and Weiss's face palms could be heard from behind Ruby.

"Are you serious? And you guys are from Beacon, Right?" Gage sounded disappointed. "Shut up you! We're Huntresses in training, not mapmakers!" Weiss yelled at him. "Look, I can help you guys if you want, but under one condition..." he said. "What 'conditions'?" Yang asked.

"Tell me your names." Gage answered. Yang turned toward her teammates, and they all nodded to her. "Fine, but you have start walking, and you have to show us your face!" Weiss said. Gage pulled down his hood from his head, and lowered his bandana. Yang saw that he had turquoise eyes, short Brown hair, and his face was a little scruffy, which Yang thought was kind of cute. "Sounds like a plan." He said as he turned around and started to walk.

Yang didn't know that she was still staring at him. Weiss then snapped her fingers in front of Yang's face. "Focus Yang, we have a job to do here! So start walking."

"Shut up, Weiss!" She whispered.

Yang handed Gage's Knife to Blake as team RWBY started to follow him. "Just in case he tries anything." Yang said. Blake looked at the Knife, It had a curved blade, and a ring on it's handle. "What type of Knife is this?" She asked.

"Its called a Kukri." He answered. Ruby's eyes lit up, "COOKIE?!" She asked. "No! A Kukri is a type of knife that has a curved blade, so its basically a mini machete. And the ring is part of the revolver's trigger."

Ruby frowned. "Aww..." she then remembered that Gage killed a Goliath. "Wait a second!" Ruby walked and stopped in front of Gage. "If you killed that Goliath... DOES THAT MEAN YOU'RE A HUNTSMAN?" Gage's Sighed. "No, actually i'm not..." Ruby looked shocked. "Where did you learn to fight then?" Weiss asked from behind him.

"You can ask all the Questions you want when we get there, but you need to tell me about yourselves." Gage walked past Ruby, and she followed behind him. "Sooo... Your name is... Ruby right?" Ruby nodded, "Ruby Rose!" She said happily.

Gage turned to Yang. "And Your name is?" She quickly answered, "Yang...Xiao Long."

"Thats a pretty name... Yang." That caused her cheeks to blush. Ruby then punched Gage in the gut. "Hey! That's my sister you know!"

"Ruby!" Yang yelled.

"Owww, okay..." he started rubbing where Ruby hit him. "So what about you, Ice Queen?" Ruby, Yang, and Blake started to laugh. "Hey! My name is Weiss!" Gage interrupted her. "Wait... Weiss Schnee?" Weiss nodded. "Huh, never would have thought..." Weiss stopped walking. "Thought what?!" She sounded threatened. "Never would have thought someone like you would want to fight monsters, when you could just hire someone to do it for you." Weiss then began to stammer. "What?! You don't even- the nerve of-" Gage interrupted her again, "but you're trying to prove a point, that you can handle yourself, Right?" Weiss looked down at the ground. "...Yes..." she muttered.

"Good, that's probably the reason why they made you heiress." He said.

"And what about Ms. Antisocial over here?" Gage pointed behind him with his thumb, and saw Blake's Bow twitch again. "Blake" she answered.

"So Blake... why the bow?"


	2. Chapter 2

All four members of team RWBY stopped, and looked at him. Blake put her hand over her bow. "How did you-" Gage quickly answered, "You can tell a faunist's emotions through the movement of their ears or tails."

"WHAT?!"All of four of them yelled. "When You drew your weapons, and your bow bent back, which meant you were angry, When i called Weiss, 'Ice Queen', you laughed,and your bow bent forwards and downwards, which meant you were happy." Blake took off her bow, "Okay, im a faunist. Do you have a problem with that Gage?"

Gage saw Blake's cat ears, but they were bent backwards. "No! Not at all!"

"Are you sure?!" She asked him. Gage began to stutter. "Y-Yes! My dad w-was adopted by faunists! And i l-loved by grand parents!" Blake seemed to have calmed down. "Where did you learn how to do that?" She asked him. "Like I said, my Dad was raised by Faunists, so he learned how to read their emotions, and he taught me." He said.

Suddenly Gage stopped walking, and got on one knee. "Hold up!" He whispered. "What is it? And why are we whispering?" Yang asked. Gage was investigating a set of animal foot prints. He pointed to the ground and said, "Foot prints, most likely Grimm." Gage untied his bandana that was below his chin, and he tied it around his right arm, below his shoulder. He then used his hand to scoop up a small piece of dirt that the tracks we're on. He smelled it, and recognized the foul smell. "Beowolves" he thought. The stench was stronger than before, so it must have been a group of them. "What is it Gage?" Weiss asked with frustration. He tilted his head a little "Beowolves, whole pack." He answered. He looked at the tracks again, and noticed that they turned, and went off to the treeline behind them. "Wait a second, it was a whole pack, and beowolves turn around only if they feel...Threatened." He heard a branch break behind them, Zwei started to bark, and He saw one of Blake's cat ears twitch. "Great, they've been following us this whole time."

And on queue pack of 16 beowolves came out of the treeline behind them. Team RWBY then readied their weapons and got in front of Gage. "Can i have my weapons back?" Gage asked Yang, as she was still holding his shotgun. "Nooope! You're going to let us handle this!" Yang turned towards Ruby, "Okay say the word sis!"

"Get back Zwei!" Ruby grinned as her dog sat behind her. "Checkmate!"

Weiss clashed her sword against the ground, and a circle if ice formed around the group. Then multiple copies of Blake stood in front of the group and behind the circle of ice, as the beowolves started to charge towards them. The copies all switched to Gambol Shroud's pistol form and sprayed at the beowolves.

The copies fired until their magazine was empty, then they disappeared, but they killed at least three of the beowolves. five more got close, but they all slipped onto the ice that Weiss put on the ground, Weiss, and ruby took care of them. "IceFlower!" Ruby yelled.

Weiss put a glyph under Ruby, and she stabbed crescent rose's blade into the Glyph. Ruby stood on top of the Scythe, and Yang kicked it, which made it start to spin, and Ruby started to shoot as she spinned faster and faster.

Eventually it stopped, and there were three Beowolves remaining. Two of them went for Yang. She used Gage's shotgun to shoot the first one in its head. She thought it was a semi-auto shotgun, so she aimed it at the other beowulf and tried to shoot again, but it didn't fire. The beowulf, knocked it out of her hand, but she blew it to pieces with Ember Celica.

Gage's shotgun landed on the floor next to him. He ran towards it and was about to grab it, but the last beowulf tackled him to the ground. The wulf had his jaws in front of Gage's face, but gage used both of his hands to keep it's mouth open. The wulf put one of it's paws on Gage's right arm, and covered his bandana. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THAT!" he yelled.

Yang saw another Beowulf run past her, and tackle Gage. "Gage!" she yelled. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH THAT!" Gage yelled. Yang then ran towards the beowulf that was on top of Gage, and was about to pull it off of him, but then Two blades went through the Beowulf's skull and out the back of his head. "What the-"

The blades then retracted from the Beowulf's head, and Gage pushed it off of him.

Yang looked at his right arm, and saw something she didn't notice before... on top of his wrist, it was a small rectangular box, and there were two curved blades coming from the front of it. He started to get up, but Yang knocked him back down. She aimed Ember Celica at his head. "Yang! What are you doing?!" Ruby yelled. "Look at his right arm!"

"What is that?" Weiss asked. "I-Its a special type of Gauntlet! Its supposed to be concealed!" Gage Answered. "Its different Yang! yours is a Brawler type, mine's a Gatewatcher type!" Yang was still aiming at him. So he retracted the gauntlet's blades.

Blake saw the small Gauntlet, and noticed something, when his fist was closed, the Gauntlet's blades would emerge, and when his first re-opened, it's blades would retract. She remembered, when Gage was handing his Kukri to Yang, his fist was about to close, but something stopped him, and he opened his hand. "Wait! if you had that the whole time, you could hav-" Gage then interrupted Blake. "But i didn't."

"I trust you guys ok? so why can't you trust me?" he looked at Yang. "I know i look shady, but i was just born that way." he said sarcastically. Yang put her fist down, she then smiled and reached out to him. He then took her hand, and she pulled him up. "Good… Now can i have my other weapons back?"

Yang looked at Blake. "Give him it" Blake then tossed the sheathed knife to him, he caught it and Placed it back on his right leg. Yang then picked his shotgun off of the ground and handed it to him. "What type of shotgun is this? And why does it have a scope?" she asked.

"It's a pull action shotgun." Then, two iron bars came from the tip of the shotgun's barrel, and folded around the shotgun, and at the end of the bars, there was a wire that went through the gun, and connected the two bars. Gage then Flip-cocked the shotgun, and shot an arrow out of it, and into the dead beowulf's head. "It's also a crossbow" he said. Ruby then smiled. "So…. its a gun….that's also a gun?" she asked. "Well, technically…." Gage said. "What are their names?" Ruby asked. "I call my gauntlet Cynica, my Kukri is named Javix, and my shotgun... is called Mistletoe." Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose, "Thats so cool!"

"So, now that you guys trust me… Want to see something else that's cool?" Ruby and Yang quickly replied, "SURE!" Gage grinned, and then he put two fingers from both hands in his mouth, and let out a wolf whistle. "Just wait a second." Yang and Ruby waited, and then they started to hear Hooves clack against the ground and Zwei started to bark. They heard something snarl, and then a horse came out of the treeline. "Okay try not to move too fast, she gets spooked easily!" he then whistled again. "C'mere girl!"

The Horse slowly walked past Team RWBY and stopped next to Gage. It was a brown horse, with a black Maine. "It's okay, girl. They're good people."

"YOU HAVE A HORSE?!" Yang yelled. "I thought they were endangered!" Blake said. Gage grabbed the Horse's bridle head piece, and petted it. "They are, I saved her from some Ursai when I first came here."Weiss noticed that the Horse had most of it's riding equipment. "Where did you get the equipment for it?" she asked. "She was trapped inside a barn, and when I cleared it, I found some of it's riding gear, and a book on how to tame them."

Gage turned to Ruby, who was still admiring the animal.

Ruby's silver eyes turned into round saucers. "WOW!" She then tried to reach towards the Horse's head. "Can I... pet her?" She asked. Ruby looked at Gage and saw that, for once, he was smiling. "Go ahead." He said.

She began to stroke the horse's face and when she did, the horse let out a small breath.

"Does she have a name?" Ruby asked Gage. He let out a small chuckle. "Heh, yeah I named her Green Bean. I always fed her the damn things and she loved them." Zwei got closer to the horse, and they both started to sniff each other. "Now that is cute!" Gage said.

Gage then put his left foot in the Horse's left riding irons, and he sat on Green Bean's saddle.

Ruby was still petting Green Bean. "Hey Yang, has Ruby ever ridden a horse before?" Gage asked.

"Once, at a festival when we were little, but she got scared and got off." Weiss and Blake started to laugh. "Yaang!" Ruby yelled.

Gage took his left foot out of the riding iron, and reached out Ruby with his hand. "Want to try again?" He asked. "YES!" Ruby grabbed his hand. "Okay you see that thing my foot was in? Put your left foot in that." She put her foot inside the riding iron, Gage then pulled her up onto the horse, and Ruby sat behind him. "Take your foot out and put your arms around my waist so you don't fall off." She did so, and Gage put his foot back into the iron. "Okay ready?" he asked. "Yeah just start slow, please." Ruby asked. "Okay."

Gage lightly hit his leg against Green Bean's stomach, and it started to walk slowly in a circle. Ruby tightened her grip around Gage's waist. "Okay, Okay, this isn't that bad." she said. "Ready to go fast?" Gage asked. "Uhhh….Sure." Ruby sounded a little scared. "Okay, Giddy up girl!" Gage then hit Green Bean's sides harder, and she started to gallop faster. Ruby started to panic, while the rest of her team was laughing. "Ahhh! too fast!" She yelled. "Relax! Just try not to fall off." he yelled. "Slow down!" she yelled back at him. "Okay, fine." he pulled on Green bean's harness, and they came to a stop under a tree.

Ruby got off, and almost fell when her feet hit the ground. "Okay, lets get a move on!" Weiss yelled and Ruby groaned.

Green Bean started to fuss a little bit. "Are you hungry girl?" Gage asked. Then, Green Bean started to bray happily. "Okay! Okay! Just keep it down please!" Green Bean walked over to an apple tree. "Gage! whats the hold up?" Yang asked. "One second! She's hungry so im going to get her an apple!"

Gage grabbed onto a tree branch above him, and hoisted himself up. He saw a red apple hanging from another tree branch in front of him. He picked, it and looked above the treeline and saw a few buildings.

Ruby was walking with her teammates and Zwei, while Gage was getting food for Green Bean. "I think he should come with us back to Beacon." Ruby suggested. "I agree." Blake said "Yeah, me too." Yang replied. Weiss had a blank look on her face. "What? we don't know if he's dangerous or not." she said. Blake chimed in "Weiss, if he wanted to kill us he probably would have done it. Sure he looks threatening, but that doesn't he is."

"Then why is he out here? By himself?" Weiss asked, and Blake stayed silent. Then Yang interrupted them. "He probably has his reasons... so Just give it time."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** If you want to get a good idea of Gage's weapons, his shotgun is a scoped Model 1887, thats also a crossbow. His Gatewatcher gauntlet is basically the predator gauntlet from the Predator and Aliens vs Predator movies.(I know it isn't original, but it looks pretty freaking' cool.) Here's the next installment.

Green Bean and Gage rode in front of the team. "Hey guys! i saw the city! it should be in front of us! And we should probably hurry up, it's going to get dark soon." Gage pulled his shotgun out of the holster on his back, and put it in another holster that was on the right side of Green Bean's saddle, so he could draw it faster. "Speaking of which, you guys don't have a camp set up anywhere do you?"

"No, we _were_ going to set up one, but Yang had to run off." Weiss said angrily. "Oh bite me, ice queen!" Yang yelled. "Whoa! it's fine, i have a place near here." Gage said. "We don't want your charity." Weiss said."Weiss! it could take hours to set one up! and Grimm thrive in the dark remember?" Yang said as Zwei started to bark again. "Hey! stop it! Look Weiss, I know you don't trust me, but unless you want to sleep in the stomach of a beowulf tonight, i suggest you come with me, besides, I have food, and hot water." he replied. Gage then turned towards Ruby, "It's your call, i mean, you're the team leader right? So you make the decisions." Ruby nodded. "Okay, we're going with you, you hear that Weiss?" Weiss growled at him. "Fine."

They finally entered the city, and it was almost sunset. Gage looked at Yang as she was walking and he noticed that she had bags under her eyes, and she could barely keep up with her teammates. So, he rode next to her and held out his hand. "Milady?" he asked her. "Heh, in your dreams cowboy.." she said tiredly. Gage made Green Bean stop in front of Yang. "You look tired, and you can barely walk, just rest for a moment." He reassured her, and she took his hand. "Okay, but don't get any funny ideas." Yang said as she sat behind Gage.

After while, Yang started to fall asleep "Are we almost there?" she asked. "Just a few more blocks." he answered. Gage was ahead of the group, when he stopped, and noticed a hole in the ground. "What the? OH CRAP!" an Ursa jumped out of the hole, but Gage was faster, so he pulled out his shotgun, and blew the Ursa's brains out. after he fired, he heard multiple Grimm howl from the forest behind them. "Oh no, they're coming!" Ruby picked up Zwei and ran next Gage, "What?" she asked. "Grimm! They're coming for us! we need to go! Now!" Yang woke, up from the gunshot, "Where is it?" she asked. "Just keep going down this street until you see a hotel! it's pretty tall!" Ruby, Blake, and Weiss lined up behind Gage. "Hey! think you can keep up?' He asked the three. "Just lead the way." Blake answered. "Okay, Hold on Yang!" Yang tightened her grip on Gage's waist. "Hyah!" He whipped Green Bean's harness, which made her Gallop faster and faster down the street. Gage looked behind him, and saw that the other three were actually keeping up, Ruby and Zwei were in front, Weiss and Blake were behind her.

Gage then past a tall building with lights that had burned out, and saw that it was the hotel. "Hold up!" He then yanked on the horse's harness, which made her stop. Gage turned around and the other three stopped behind him. "In here! Yang hop off!" Yang jumped off, but fell and Ruby helped her back up. Weiss tried to open the glass door, but it was locked. "One second!" Gage yelled. He then fished out a silver key and put it in the keyhole, and twisted it, but the key broke into two pieces. "It broke? Since when does the key break? I've never heard that happen to anyone, ever!" Gage closed his right hand, and Cynica's blades emerged from his gauntlet.

"Fuck this!" he then smashed through the glass door, opened the lock from the other side, and opened the door. "Come on." he whispered. Team RWBY went in first, and Gage was trying to get Green Bean to lower her head so she could get inside. "I know it's been awhile since we've been here! just go in!" he then pushed the horse through the door and closed it. Gage then closed the emergency gate that would block anything from getting through the broken windows. "Blake help me with this!" Gage yelled quietly. Blake looked up and saw a large black rain tarp that was wrapped above the gate. Gage unwrapped one end of the tarp, Blake unwrapped the other end, and the tarp covered the front of the hotel, but it smelled horrible.

"Ughh! what's that smell?" Weiss asked. Gage then moved Green Bean behind the Hotel's main counter, where there was already a pile of hay on the ground. "I found it in a dumpster. It stinks because it's supposed to block our scent from any Grimm." he answered her. Gage pointed towards an elevator behind Weiss, "Get in there, i'll be there in a second." Ruby, Zwei, Weiss, Blake, and Yang got in the elevator, while Gage tried to calm down Green Bean. "It's okay girl, we'll go back out in the morning," He then gave her another apple. "Here, now it's time to go to sleep okay?" He scratched the horse's chin, which made her put her head onto the hay. "Good girl, ill see you in the morning." Gage then walked into the elevator. "Aww" Ruby whispered.

Gage pressed the button for floor number three, and the door closed. "How does this place work? I thought all power was lost here." Blake asked. "It was, but this place has backup generators surprisingly." The elevator stopped, and the light inside the elevator turned off. "Nevermind… Anyone got a light?" he asked. Weiss then put one of her glyphs on the top of the elevator. "That's useful" Gage said.

He unsheathed Javix, and used it's blade to cut the screws off of the elevator panel. "What are you doing?" Yang asked him. "The cord that's holding this thing up runs on an engine, which turned off, so im going to create a huge spark with the wires in here, to give it a jump start." Yang looked confused. "You know, like a car?" he said. "How do you know how to do this stuff?" she asked, still tired. "It's the same reason I knew who Weiss was, My dad worked for the security department of her Father's company, He was a Robotic Engineer, so he basically made robots for a living, and when he wasn't working, he taught me how do some things, like wiring, and programming." Gage turned and looked at Yang. "Small world huh?" he said. Gage turned around again. "Oh yeah, and can you move? You're in my light."

"Annnnd….. there!" There was then a small spark inside the panel, then the elevator started to move again, and it's light turned on. "Piece of cake!" he yelled. "So, your dad worked for my company, and he was raised by Faunists?" Weiss asked as Blake rolled her eyes. "I know, Fucking coincidence right?" Gage said as the elevator door opened. "Which room?" Yang asked. "Security lounge, should be at the bottom of the hall." he answered. "It has a bathroom, with a shower in it, a couch, and a few mattresses, but there's also a huge hole in one of the walls."

They got to the end of the hall, and when they opened the security door, Zwei and Yang both threw themselves on the couch. After the other three girls came inside, he closed the door and walked towards Yang. "It's a pull-out bed you know..." but, Yang couldn't hear him because she was already asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sorry if it's a bit messy, i haven't been here in a while." Gage said, Embarrassed. Weiss pointed to the Hole on in the side of their room. "Well there's no fixing that." she said.

"So, uh, you guys hungry?" Gage asked. Gage blinked, and saw Ruby, and Zwei in front of him. "YES!" Ruby yelled. "What do you have?" she asked. "Got some canned goods… you guys like spam?" he asked as he walked over to the room's kitchen. "Do you have anything….healthy?" Weiss asked. Gage pulled a can out of one of the kitchen cabinets. "Got some corn." He then tossed the can and a spoon to Weiss, and she growled at Gage again as she opened the can. "Blake? Spam?" Ruby asked. Gage turned and saw Blake was reading a small black book. "I got some tuna too…" Blake immediately turned to him. "Yes!" she yelled.

Gage was cooking Spam, and tuna while Weiss was eating a can of corn. "So what do you have for beds?" Ruby asked. "Well, got a queen size bed, and two mattresses, and since i'm trying to make a good second impression, Weiss, you get the bed." Ruby and Blake frowned while Yang started to snore. "Aw what?!" they yelled. "Oh yeah, and just letting you know, that shower i was talking about probably doesn't work now."

"Then how are you cooking?" Weiss asked. "I...Improvised. Weiss looked over the counter, and saw that the wiring inside the oven that Gage was using was re-wired. "You're really good at wiring, if my father was here, he would be impressed." Weiss said. "That's not the only thing i'm good at you know…" he said

He finally finished cooking their food, and they ate in front of the couch Yang was sleeping on. "Okay, im going to ask some questions since you guys got a head start." Gage said. "Okay, shoot." Ruby said. "How old are you?" he asked Ruby. His question made her blush slightly. Ruby finally began to speak. "Im...15." she said. "Cool. Im 18." Gage said.

"Really?" Weiss asked. "You look a lot older because of you know…" She pointed to her chin. Gage smiled. "Oh, that, heh...my dad had one, and he told me that the ladies love it." Gage said. "Do they?" Ruby asked. "I'll find out sooner or later." he said. "So how old are you two?" he asked Weiss and Blake. "We're both 17, and so is Yang." Gage smiled and said, "Im surprised your not younger than Ruby, Heiress." Weiss started to growl but Blake stopped her.

"Okay our turn, Gage." Weiss said. "Blake, go ahead." she added. Blake turned to Gage. "Where did you learn to fight? You're weapons are very… peculiar." Blake asked. Gage let out a small chuckle. "Well… my mom was a huntress, and i said that i wanted to be one like her, so when i was seven, she started training me." Gage took a bite out of one of the pieces of spam. Ruby then asked a question as she gave a piece of spam to Zwei. "Did you live here?" she asked. "Before the collapse? Yeah, for like 2 months inside temporary housing…. it was before my dad got a job at Atlas." he took another bite. "And when it did collapse, me, my mom and her team tried to get people out of the city, but you can't save them all you know?" he said. "But, because of that, i got to go to Sanctum when i was eleven, but only for two years." Gage pointed outside the huge hole in the wall. "This place made Atlas's city hall look like a overprotected dumpster." Ruby laughed.

"What stopped you? from learning at sanctum?" Weiss asked. Gage heavily sighed. "I...got a reality check...so lets just leave it that…" Gage stood up, left the plate of food on the ground, and put a gas lantern next to the three girls. "I think thats enough questions for today….Look when you're finished eating you guys should get some rest, ill get the mattresses for you two." He then pointed to the kitchen. "Ruby, when Yang wakes up, tell her she has food over there."

Gage put out both of the mattresses for Ruby, and Blake, while Weiss was in Gage's bed. "Uh,, what are you going to sleep on?" Ruby asked. "The ground." he said. Ruby sat up from the mattress. "You don't have to, you know." she said. Gage then reassured her. "It's fine.. At least i won't have to sleep in a tree branch for once." he said while smiling.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: you don't have to read this part, but i just wanted to say, if i would pick a song for Gage, it would be.. 'Where are we Going?' by Elena Siegman. It fits perfectly with this chapter and late chapters. That is all.

Yang woke up, and her back was sore from sleeping on the couch. "Where am i?" she asked herself. she looked to her left and saw Blake and Ruby sleeping on some mattresses. "Oh yeah, mount Glenn." she thought to herself

She got off of the couch, and was starting to walk towards the bathroom, but she looked at the hole in the side of the building and saw someone sitting down next to it. Yang rubbed her eyes, and saw that it was Gage. She looked closer at him, and saw that he was holding a small photo, and had a six pack of beer bottles next to him. He touched the picture he was holding with one of his fingers. She then saw something roll down his cheek, it was a tear. Gage put the picture in his pocket, opened one of the beer bottles, and put his hood up.

Yang walked towards him. "Hey, what are you doing?" she asked him. He turned to her, and his eyes were soaking, and red. "I don't know…. looking at the view i guess….." he pointed outside into the urban jungle. "Beautiful isn't it? Someone should take a picture…." he said. Yang sat down next to him, and looked at the six pack of beer next to him. "I got lucky, so i only drink them for special occasions." Gage said. Yang wanted one "Uh, can i have one?" she pointed to the bottles. Gage smiled. "*sniffle* How old are you?" he asked her. "Oh… i'm...18." she tried to lie. Gage chuckled. "You are not as old as me….now how old are you?" he asked again. Yang sighed. "17" she said.

"Then no, you can't have one." Gage said. Yang frowned. "Aw come on! Just one!" Gage signaled her to stop. "Keep your voice down, they're still sleeping remember?" Yang lowered her voice, and remembered what she just saw. She knows she doesn't have the right to ask about it, so she changed her question.

"Why are you awake?" she asked him. Gage let out a sigh, and his breath was shaky. "It's funny really... I haven't slept for almost a month now, and the first time i have company…. i dont want to go to sleep."

Yang then noticed the bags under his eyes. "Why?" she asked. "I don't want them, i mean, you guys to get hurt. Stuff like that always happens to people who stay around me." Yang looked at him while he looked over the abandoned city. "How long have you been here?" she asked. He started to talk, but his voice was also shaking. "One year, Six months." he answered.

He let that soak in, and Yang asked again. "Why?" Gage grabbed another beer bottle. "Look, if i give you a drink, will you stop asking me questions?" he said. Yang started to speak "But I-" Gage stopped her. "Please Just… not now." Yang grabbed the beer bottle. "Okay." she said. Yang opened the bottle and took a small sip.

After a while, Yang broke the silence between the two of them. "You know… i don't care what you think about yourself…. you're not some 'Gaged' Animal... see what i did there?" Yang chuckled at her own joke, and so did Gage. "That was the worst pun ever. Of all time." He then raised his beer bottle. "Here, to my well being, and your crappy puns!" They both clanked their beer bottles together. "Cheers!"

Ruby woke up to the sound of glass being broken. "Wake up sleeping beauties!" Ruby recognized the voice. It was Gage. Yang got back up from the couch, and saw there was a broken bottle on the floor. "Ow, can you be any louder?" she whispered while holding her forehead. Weiss ran into the room. "What are you guys doing?" She yelled. "Waking you guys up." Gage said. He then looked down and saw that Blake was still asleep. He turned to Yang. "Heavy sleeper?" Gage asked her. "I guess, here ill wake her up." Yang then shook Blake's shoulder. "Hey wake up, there's still some tuna left." Blake's eyes immediately opened. "Where?" she asked. Yang pointed to the Kitchen. "you have the tuna, i'll have my spam." Yang said.

"So… how are you guys going to get out of here?" Gage asked. Yang interrupted him. "You mean 'we'?" she said. Gage lowered his voice. "Yeah, sure."

Ruby started to speak as Yang and Blake were eating in the kitchen. "Our ship is going to pick us up where they dropped us off." Ruby looked at her scroll. "So that gives us a couple of hours." she said. "Where was that at?" Gage asked. "There was a park, with a statue next to it." Ruby answered. Gage tried to think where that was, and he remembered, that there was a statue at harrington square. "That's probably at Harrington square….it's pretty far, so we should move now." Gage walked towards the door, so Team RWBY and Zwei followed him.

This time, they took the stairs instead of the elevator. They made it down the main lobby, where Green Bean was waiting by the door of the hotel. "Okay, one second girl." Gage said. He lifted, and went under the tarp, and he opened the emergency gate. "C'mere." Gage said with a low voice as he signaled Green Bean to come to him.

The group set out into the urban jungle, and to Harrington square. Ruby still had more questions, so she asked them. "Hey, i wanted to ask…..What's your semblance?" She looked at Gage, who was riding Green Bean, and it looked like he was day dreaming. "Gage? You listening?" Ruby asked. Gage blinked and shook his head. "What?" he asked. "What's your Semblance?" Ruby asked again. "Uh... its a secret." He said quietly. "What? Why?"

"I can't use it a lot, so i only use it as a failsafe. And i keep it a secret, so no one will see it coming." Yang spoke up. "That's lame! Boo!" Gage smiled. "I could say the same about your puns, Yang." He said.

The group reached a hill, which had a street going going down the hill, and there was a statue at the bottom. Gage turned to Ruby.

"Is this the place?" He asked her. "Yup, and the ship should be here in..." Ruby pulled out her scroll, and looked at the time, "30 minutes."

"Well, looks like my job is done." Gage turned Green Bean around. "Good luck with becoming huntresses. The world's going to need people like you guys." Green Bean and Gage started to slowly walk away. Ruby quickly turned around. "Wait! Where are you going?!"She yelled. Gage tilted his head. "Home... where ever it is..." Yang ran over to him, and grabbed his arm. "Wait, please! We've all agreed that you should come with us, to Beacon. Maybe they could use a person like you."

"Look, even if I did come with you guys, i'd have to go through a lot of legal stuff that I don't want to deal with." Ruby interrupted him.

"Ozpin could take care of it! Right Weiss?" Weiss shrugged. "I don't want anyone to get in trouble because of me." he said. Blake then yelled at him. "But you could die if you stay here!" Gage looked back at her. "And?" he said.

Ruby ran to Gage and tugged on his arm. "Please, you don't have to be alone anymore." Gage let out a heavy breath and began to Whisper to Yang. "Remember what I told you last night, about people who stay around me?" Yang tried to reassure him.

"You don't have to worry about us, Gage, we can take of ourselves, you saw us... we can do it." Gage turned his head back around, which caused Yang to tighten her grip on him.

Gage let out small sigh, and turned to Ruby."Can a horse fit inside the airship?" He asked. Ruby and Yang's eyes both lit up with joy. "We'll make it work!" They both said.

After the airship into view above the group, Green Bean started to get spooked, while Blake and Weiss started to signal the ship to touch down.

After it did, Weiss and Blake boarded it, while Gage, Yang, and Ruby tried to get Green Bean Into the ship. "Come on you big bag of applesauce! Move!" Gage yelled. Gage was pushing Green Bean from behind, while Yang and Ruby were pulling her hooves into the ship. "Almost there!" They yelled. With one final push, they got the horse inside the ship.

"Who is that, and what is that horse doing in my ship?" The pilot yelled. Weiss spoke up, "uh, We found him here, and horses are endangered remember?"

"Well, its your guy's problem, not mine."

The pilot lifted the ship into the air, and above the abandoned city. Gage was holding onto a handle, that was in front of the airship's bay door. He looked over the city as the airship flew away from it.

Ruby walked and stood next to Gage. She looked at his scruffy face, and saw that it was pale. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked. Gage turned to her. "Just a little air sickness is all."

The pilot yelled from the airship's overspeaker. "If you or that horse make a mess in my ship, your all going to clean it up!"

Ruby and Gage laughed. Gage looked at Ruby and remembered when she was riding Green Bean. She made him smile, something he hasn't done in a long time. He then Remembered what she said, "You don't have to be alone anymore."

Gage put his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Hey, Ruby... thank you." She turned to Gage. "For what?" She asked.

"For making me smile for the first time in a while."

Ruby smiled. "Well, it's what I do!" She started to laugh,and when he did, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yang looking at him. She was smiling, so he smiled back at her.

"I guess i'm not delusional."


	6. Chapter 6

Gage was dreaming again, but this wasn't some made up dream... it was a memory.

He was in a street, that was crowded with people with signs, and they were staring at soething bright. He looked up and saw ashes and smoke in the air, as there was a burning building in front of him.

He remembered this day, and what happened afterwards. Knowing this Gage immediately tried to run through the crowd, but two men grabbed him and were holding him back. "Hey kid! You can't go in there! You're going to get killed!" Gage still struggled to break loose.

"I don't care!" he yelled. The fire's smoke turned black, and then, the building collapsed.

"NO!"

"Hey Gage, wake up!" Yang whispered. Gage gasped, and woke up with a mild headache.

"You alright? You were tossing and turning." Ruby asked. Gage remembered that he was inside an airship that was heading for Beacon. "Im fine... are we there yet?" He asked. The pilot started to speak. "Coming into view now."

Gage got up and walked to the ship's cockpit. He looked outside the ship's windshield, and saw what he thought was a huge clock tower that was green and glowing.

"Whoa"

The pilot turned to him, "touching down now." He said. Ruby started to speak to him. "A professor's going to meet us when we land, they're going to take you to our headmaster."

Gage felt the hull of the airship touch the planets surface, jerked him around. "First time on an airship?" Weiss asked. "Second." Gage answered. "Well, this where we get off." Yang said.

The ship's bay door opened and Gage's eyes were blinded by a ray of sunlight, so he tried to cover them. The sunlight moved away from his eyes, as a figure walked in front of him.

He moved his hand away from his face, and looked at the figure. It was a woman and she was holding a tablet.

She looked like she was almost twice his age, she had Blonde hair, and green eyes. She had some reading glasses on, and she was wearing a white blouse, black work pants, and she was wearing what looked like a purple cape.

"Hello, My name is Glynda Goodwitch." She said. "You must be the man team RWBY found." Glynda looked behind Gage and saw a horse that was laying next to Zwei. "Is that a Horse?" She asked. Gage then put his hood down. "Her name is Green Bean." He said. Glynda tapped on the screen of her tablet twice. "Very well, now please, come with me. Professor Ozpin would like to speak to you." Glynda then looked at team RWBY. "All of you.

Team RWBY and Zwei followed Glynda, while Gage was getting Green Bean out of the airship. Glynda turned around as Gage mounted Green Bean. "Please, leave the horse here." Gage glared at her. "Do you want a loose mustang on your hands?" He asked.

The group proceeded to the clock tower. "So what am I going to have to do when I get there?" Gage asked. Glynda quickly glanced at her tablet. "You two are just going to talk. Team RWBY on the other hand, are going to be questioned." Glynda looked at Gage's horse. "And 'she' is going to have to stay down here."

They reached the clock tower's elevator.

Ruby turned to Zwei. "Stay here with Green Bean, so she doesn't freak out." Zwei responded by barking and sitting next to Green Bean. The Horse turned to Zwei. She sniffed him, and imitated him by sitting down like a dog.

Gage started to speak but Yang stopped him.

"Gage, she'll be fine." Gage heavily sighed and whispered to Yang, "Don't say anything about last night." Glynda then interrupted him,

"Come on now, 'Gage', the professor doesn't have all day." So the six of them entered the elevator.

They stopped at floor 26, but only team RWBY exit

ed the elevator. "Gage, Professor Ozpin's office is at the top, floor fifty." Glynda said. Gage looked behind her, and saw Yang wink at him. So he pressed the button for floor fifty.

As the elevator went up the tower, Gage cleared his throat, and unzipped his hoodie.

"Here goes everything." He thought to himself.

The elevator door opened, and Gage walked out. The room he was in, it had a huge window on the left side of it. Gage looked up and saw the gears of a clock, and it was ticking.

Gage looked back down and saw a man with grey hair and glasses sitting at a desk, with a tablet on it, and he was holding a cup of coffee. "Mr. Sim. Please, have a seat." The man said. Gage sat down in the seat in front of him. "How do you know my last name?" Gage asked. "Ms. Rose contacted me and told me your full name before you landed here." The man said.

The man then took a sip from his mug and looked at his tablet. "You are Gaigus 'Gage' Sim II, son of Miriam and Gaigus Sim I, are you not?" He asked. Gage nodded, "Yes."

"Do you know who I am?" The man asked. Gage sighed, "Yes, i heard of you before i came here, professor Ozpin." Ozpin smiled. "Good, now I won't have to introduce myself." He said. "Let's get down to business." He tapped on his tablet. "You lived in a village outside the kingdoms, then Vale, and then in Atlas, correct?" Gage nodded again. Ozpin sighed, "You lived in Atlas rather, recently, so at least we won't have to introduce you to any new technology."

Ozpin's tablet beeped. "What is your... combat occupation?" Gage had a confused look on his face. "Occupation?" Gage asked.

Ozpin looked up from his tablet. "Fencer? Marksman? Dual wielder?" He asked. Gage then understood. "Oh, Duel Wielder, and Archer." Gage answered.

"Please, show me your weapons." The professor asked. Without questioning the man, Gage placed all three of his weapons on the desk in front of him. "Mistletoe, Javix, and Cynica." Gage said. Ozpin pointed at Mistletoe. "This one, mistletoe you call it?" He asked. Gage nodded. "Your mother was a huntress, is that correct?" Ozpin asked again.

Gage sighed. "Yes" he answered. Ozpin tapped, and looked at his tablet.

"Miriam 'Mistletoe' Shogaia." Ozpin stared at Gage. "It is your mother's weapon, isn't it?"

"Yes, but it also has a few... additions i've made." Gage smirked. "Good to know, now my 'associates' are going to join us, and ask a few questions from the information they've gathered from Team RWBY." Ozpin took another drink of his coffee. "Then I will make my decision."


	7. Chapter 7

The elevator behind the two men opened, and three people stepped out of it. One of them was Glynda, the second was a rather, stout man with grey hair and a mustache, and the third was a thin man with glasses, and green hair. Glynda started to introduce them.

"Mr. Sim, this is Professor Port, and Oobleck" The green haired man cleared his throat. "It's Doctor Oobleck, Glynda." He said.

The three walked out of the elevator, and behind Ozpin's desk. "Lets begin, shall we?" Glynda said. "Peter, we'll let you start since you've been solo eager to question him." She said sarcastically.

Professor Port stepped forward. "Ms. Xao Long said that you, and I quote, "decapitated a goliath, with Knife." Is this true?" Gage then sheathed Javix. "Yes, its true."

The professor's eyebrows raised so high, that you could actually see his eyes. "How?! They are so massive! Where did you strike?!" Gage smiled.

"If you piss it off enough, it'll try to use it's tusks on you, if you dodge it, you could land on them, and use them to your advantage."

He pointed to the back of his neck. "You could try to slit it's throat, but it takes longer, so I went for the nape of Its neck. It's harder to do, but its faster to kill it that way."

"Fascinating!" Port yelled. Glynda turned to him. "Why are you excited Peter? I thought you told your class that you killed one." Port stayed silent.

"Dr. Oobleck, I believe it is your turn." Ozpin said. "Yes it is, Ms. Belladonna said you identified her faunist heritage, just by instinct...how?" He asked.

"An old trick my father taught me, their ears and tails can indicate their emotions, so I tested her and I saw that bow on her head move more than once." Oobleck interrupted Gage, "So your hypothesis was correct. Fascinating."

Ozpin asked one last question, "One last thing, you brought a horse, 'Green Bean' you call her, why a horse?"

"I saved her, and she's been with me for a long time. And she can handle herself, so we have each other's back." He answered.

Oobleck interrupted again, "Of course! Horses can sense danger! They are a reliable source of transportation! And they can hold more pounds than a human!" Gage interrupted him, for once. "She's not my pack mule, Doctor..."

Oobleck apologized to Gage, and Ozpin started to speak. "I have reached a decision, Mr. Sim..." The whole room went quiet. Ozpin smiled so, Glynda started to whisper to him.

"Professor, you're not actually considering that he-" Ozpin stopped her. "You've read his file Glynda, so you know what he's been through... this is the only chance he has left."

He turned back to Gage. "Mr. Sim, your classes will begin in one week, we will provide you with a school uniform, and you will need to buy school supplies, so we will provide you with the finances."

Gage smiled and asked. "What about my horse?" Ozpin grinned and turned to Glynda, "We still have the old locker rooms, so Glynda will construct something for your horse." Glynda growled and put a scroll on Ozpin's desk. Ozpin picked up the scroll. "Since we technically found you in Vale, your room will be in wing V-12, room 7. Team RWBY live in the same building, so they can show you where it is, and they can show you around the academy." Ozpin handed Gage the scroll. "Welcome to Beacon, Mr. Sim."


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: sorry if any of my other chapters have spelling errors or incorrect spacing, my computer isnt working, so im doing all this with my phone. Oh yes! Please dont be shy to leave a review! Any way here's the next chapter.

"Welcome to Beacon, Mr. Sim." Ozpin stated.

Gage took the scroll from Olson's hand. "Thank you! So much!" Gage then quickly remembered how old Team RWBY's members were... 15 and 17... so it was their first year at Beacon. Gage asked a question. "oh! I have a small request..."

Ozpin and Glynda looked at him, so he finished his sentence. "I would like to be enrolled as a first-year student, I don't want any special treatments just because i'm older."

Ozpin smiled. "I see you would like to be with your new friends... Very well." Ozpin tapped his tablet twice. Glynda cleared her throat. "Team? Classes?" She whispered. "Hmm? Oh yes! I forgot to mention, since you are a late entry to our roster, your team initiation will be postponed. Our next initiation is almost two semesters away, so until then you will be enrolled in non-team based classes." Gage nodded and said. "I understand."

"Good." Ozpin turned to Glynda. "Glynda, show the man where his horse will be staying. Mr. Sim, if you have any more questions, ask her." Gage gave a thumbs up, and Glynda sighed. "Now hurry along you two." Ozpin said.

Team RWBY were waiting in the clock tower's lobby

"I hope Ozpin will let him stay here." Yang said worryingly. "I doubt it." Weiss replied. Yang glared at her and turned to Blake who was reading. "Blake? What do you think?" Yang asked. Blake looked up from the book she was reading. "If I think he is worthy adversary, so will Ozpin." Ruby then pointed at the elevator. "Look! It's coming back down!" She yelled.

The elevator door opened, and Gage and Glynda walked out of it. Ruby quickly asked, "SO?!" Gage then took his new scroll out his pocket.

"Im staying."

"Yay!" Both of the sisters yelled. Yang ran to Gage, and quickly hugged him. Gage felt a little shocked at first, but he hugged her back.

After Yang let go, Glynda started to speak. "Mister Sim, please bring your 'mustang', and I will show you where she is staying."

They then went outside and Gage mounted Green Bean. "Where to?" He asked. Glynda looked down at her tablet. "Behind the Vale dorm building, there is an old locker room."

Gage looked confused. "How are you going to 'construct' something for Green Bean?" He asked. Glynda turned to him. "Please just be patient."

"Hey Gage, I wanted to ask... how did you find that hotel anyway?" Ruby asked. Gage turned to her. "Well, when I got there, It was the only building had working lights, so I found that room I was staying in, and I found those food cans."

"So you're a scavenger?" Glynda asked. "In a way, Yes." Gage answered. "Would you like me to put that down under your combat occupations?" She asked again. "Sure why not?"

The group reached the old locker rooms.

"Okay how are we going to do this?" Gage asked. Glynda pulled out what looked like a wand. "Just leave it to me, Mr. Sim." Glynda waved the wand, and the building started to hover above the field that it was attached to.

She waved it again, and the middle section of the building was separated and fell back to the ground. Then the two remaining pieces were clashed together, and then she used the pieces from the middle section to conjoined the two other pieces and made the new building structurally sound.

Glynda looked back at Gage, she was grinning. Gage stared at her with a cautious look on his face. "You're scary. You know that?" He said.

He entered the building through its double doors, and saw that now it was just a empty room with a bench and a concrete floor. Gage sat on the bench while Green Bean laid on the floor next to him. Gage started to pet Green Bean, "Ill get some hay and a heater for you, don't worry." He stood up and started to walk to the door, but Green Bean bit Gage's hood and started to tug on it. "Aw! She doesn't want you to leave!" Ruby yelled. Gage got his hood free, and he started to talk to the horse. "Are you hungry?" He asked. Green Bean didn't do anything so, Gage asked, "Are you cold?"

Immediately, Green Bean nodded her head up and down. "Okay! Give me a second." He reached for the Horse's saddle, and unzipped a satchel that was connected to it. "Here, girl."

Gage pulled a poncho out of the satchel. He then took off Green Bean's riding equipment, and wrapped the poncho around the Horse's neck and stomach. "There, i'll be back soon, and when I do, we'll go tree riding, just like we use to." The Horse responded by sitting down on the cold concrete floor.

After exiting the building, Glynda turned to Gage. "Okay, my job is done so, Team RWBY will show you around the rest of the school. If you have anymore questions, please consult them with professor Ozpin." She then turned and walked away.

"Way to drop the stray on us, Professor." Weiss muttered. Gage turned to her and gave Weiss a pissed off look. "Just a joke! Okay?" She added. "Where to first?" Gage asked.


	9. Chapter 9

Quick Note: Im sorry if i'm dragging Gage's backstory out, but I just wanted to say, please try to go with along with it, as it will pay off in future chapters, with a HUGE twist. Here's the next chapter.

"Well, are you hungry?" Yang asked. Gage chuckled. "What do you think?" He said sarcastically. "Okay! Cafeteria it is!" Ruby threw her arms in the air, "Finally!"

Gage, and team RWBY were eating at a table by themselves, as all the other students were still in class.

Yang and blake were eating turkey sandwiches, While Ruby was feeding Zwei a plain chocolate chip cookie. "The food here isn't really... exquisite." Weiss said as she poked at her salad with a fork. Gage was stuffing his face with chicken nuggets, and carrots. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THIS IS THE BEST THING I'VE EATEN IN A LONG TIME!" He yelled with his mouth full. Blake smiled, while Yang and Ruby laughed at how how happy Gage looked. Yang took a bite out of her sandwich and asked, "So whats this 'tree riding' thing?" Ruby interrupted her sister, "Oh yeah! You were talking about it with Green Bean!"

Gage then quickly washed down the rest of his food with some milk. "Oh, its a little game i'd play with her when there wasn't any Grimm around. I can show you guys later after the 'tour'." He answered. "Sure, but what type of game?" Ruby asked. "It's kind of like a race, but i would usually get a lot more exercise out of it."

Weiss then yawned, "Okay, im going to get some sleep, since Gage's bed did something to my back!" She then stretched and grabbed her lower back. "Can you take Zwei with you?" Ruby asked. Weiss bent down and snapped her fingers. "Come here you little mutt." Zwei immediately ran to Weiss and jumped into her arms. "I'll see you guys later."

Yang turned to Blake as Weiss left, and saw that she was reading again. "Hey Blake, lets show him the library!" Yang yelled enthusiastically. "Okay Yang, but we have to be quiet remember?" Blake whispered. "Fine! But just this once!"

The group entered the library, and Blake immediately started to direct Gage to all the sections of the library. "There's fiction, non-fiction, historical, Sci-fi, and my personal favorite, Romance." Gage smirked, "I can already tell that there isn't any comics so, got any graphic novels?" He asked. Yang and Ruby looked surprised. "What? You got to do something when you're bored!" Blake interrupted him, "Well, the Graphic novels we have here aren't very... Graphic. But, I just order mine." Gage started to actually have a conversation with Blake, while Yang and Ruby were still in awe. "Uh, okay, Yang, lets get him out of here before they bore us to death!" Ruby whispered.

Then, the librarian walked up to Blake. "Your order is here, Ms. Belladonna!" She then handed Blake a small black book. Blake opened it in front of Gage, but Yang grabbed Gage's hood and pulled him towards the building's exit. "Okay! We're going to arena now! Blake, you coming?" Yang looked back and saw Blake sitting down in one of the library's chairs. "Nope!" Ruby yelled as they exited the building.

The group of three were walking through one of the academy's central courtyards. Ruby and Yang were telling Gage about the schools lockers. "So their lockers... and rockets?" Gage asked. "Yup, but I call them Rockers." Yang answered. Gage turned to Yang and smirked. "Nice!" He then noticed that Ruby was staring at him. "What is it?" He asked. Ruby blushed and pointed at his lip. "You have a milk moustache!" Gage rubbed the top part of his lip, and then there was a dried milk stain on his finger. "Oh...Oh, gross!" He yelled. Ruby's scroll started beeping loudly and rapidly. She pulled it out of her pocket and tapped it's screen. "Aw, I've got to feed Zwei, and take him out." Ruby turned around, "Yang! message me when you show him his dorm room!" She then quickly used her semblance to zoom out of sight. Gage chuckled. "Im surprised her weapon doesnt slow her down." Gage turned to Yang, but she just shrugged. "You're not the only one."

Yang and Gage were entering the arena building. "if you can't find me, i'll probably be in here." Gage looked at Yang, who was smiling, and saw that she her eyes weren't lilac anymore, now they were red. "Challenges are always accepted here, so i guess you could say that this place is always the highlight of my day." She said.

They then entered a smaller room with three marble circles on floor, and they were surrounded by four sets of bleachers which were elevated. Yang stood next to one of the circles. She started to speak out loud. "Match settings." then a small 3D screen popped in front of Yang. "You can set up a sparring match with this. Time, score, traits, bonuses-" Gage Interrupted her, "bonuses?" He asked. She started to type on the screen's keyboard. "No weapons, no semblances, no getting back up, you know...extras." Gage put his hood up. "So... want to go for a round?" He asked. Yang laughed, "No, not yet..."

Then, the arena doors slammed open, and four students with steel plated armor entered.

One of them was ahead of the group, he had a golden bird engraved on his chest plate. Yang's hand then covered her face, "Not these guys again." She muttered. The team's, apparent, leader started to walk towards them, but Yang made him stop as she pointed Ember Celica at him. The student smiled, and looked at Gage. "Hey Yang, who's the shady looking guy? Your new boyfriend?" He said. Gage quickly responded. "Hey man, fuck you! She's just showing me around!" The student started to laugh. "That's not all she'll be showing you!" He started to laugh even harder. Yang looked at Gage as he started to growl. She then looked down and saw that Cynica's blades weren't concealed anymore. "Hey! Its not even your first day yet!" She whispered. Gage ignored her, so she grabbed him by his hood and tried to drag him away. "Come on, they're just a bunch of idiots!" she then pushed him forward, and towards the exit. The pair heard the student yell at them. "Welcome to beacon, asswipe!"

Gage and Yang started to walk to the Vale dorm building. Gage was still pissed about their encounter. "Who was that asshole?" He asked. Yang sighed, "Cardin Winchester. He's just a bully, so just try to ignore him." Gage put his hood back up. "He's not going to stop until you do something about it." He said. "We've already tried, one time he was screwing with our friend Velvet just because she's a faunist, and two of her team members beat him up, but that didn't stop him!" Gage started to speak, but Yang interrupted him "Just, try to ignore them." Gage sighed. "Fine, but if they come at me, I'm not backing down." Yang smiled, "Sounds good to me."

They backtracked through one of the courtyards, and we're getting closer. There was another group of four sitting at a table, two girls, two guys. One of the girls got up and waved at Yang and Gage. "Yang! Over here!" Yang approached them and Gage followed her. "How was your second mission?! " she asked. "it took a while for you guys to get back!" Gage saw that she was a rabbit faunist. "It was fine Velvet, we just... found something." Gage turned to Yang. "Im right here you know!"

Gage looked at the others that were sitting at the table. One of the guys there had orange hair, darker skin, and he had white eyes, with no pupils, and it looked like he was... lost. He was asking the other girl a question. "Who is it?" he asked. The other girl was wearing a brown beret, and brown sunglasses. "Its just Yang and..." she then stood up and lowered her glasses. "And who... are you?" She smiled, and scanned Gage from head to toe. Yang stood in front of him. "I found him out by mount Glenn, so he's my teams responsibility." She said. "For now..." the girl added. She bent over the table and put her hand on her chin. She couldn't see Gage's face, because of his hood. "Im Coco, leader of team CFVY."

Yang and Coco were glaring at each other while Velvet awkwardly stared at both of them. Gage looked at the man who was sitting on the left of Coco, as he was trying not to laugh. He had shaved, short black hair, and had a what looked like a orange broadsword on his back. Gage mouthed "help me" to him.

He then stood up. "Leave him be, I don't think he wants people swarming him on his first day." Coco frowned, "Ugh! You're such a buzzkill Yatsuhashi."

Velvet turned to Gage. "So... whats your name again?" She asked. Gage pulled his hood down, and ran his hand through his hair. "Gage Sim." He answered. Coco laughed, "Sexy and Shady? Thats a first!"

Gage started to to whisper to Yang, "Can we go now?" He asked. Yang smirked at Coco, "Well, I'm going to show him where he's staying so, I guess we'll see you around!"

She lightly pushed Gage forward and the pair started to leave, but Coco quickly shouted at Gage. "Hey Shady! If you ever need some company, you know who to look for!"

The Pair was now at the base of the Vale dorm building. Yang opened the building's glass door. "Gage, which room is yours?" She asked. He pulled at his scroll, and looked at the message Ozpin sent him. "Wing V-12, room 7." Yang looked at the directory that was on one of the walls. "It should be on the bottom floor, and to the left." She pulled out her scroll as they started to walk down Wing V-12. "I'll message Ruby so she can find us." she said.

Gage then remembered that he was going to ask about the other student he saw earlier, with the orange hair. "Hey Yang? I forgot to ask, who was that guy with the orange hair?" Yang stopped texting. "That's Fox. He's a brawler, like me." She then tapped on her right gauntlet. "Why?" She asked. Gage remembered how the student's eyes were misty. "His eyes were white and he seemed lost... is he blind?"

"No one really knows..." she answered. "What do you mean?" Gage asked. "Well, he knows how to fight, and can actually hit a target, but when he's not in combat, he can't see." Gage frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "But his team, and my friends, help him out as much as we can. So he can feel...you know, normal."

Gage thought about what it would be like to be around so many people again. "Hey Yang, do you think I could fit in here... with your friends I mean..." he turned to her and saw that she had a surprised look on her face. "Oh Heck yeah! What makes you think you can't?" Gage lowered his voice a bit. "Sometimes I can be a little... socially awkward..." Yang laughed, "We all are, so don't worry about it! Besides, even if you don't meet anybody, you'll get to hang out with me all day!"

Gage put his hands in his hoodie's pockets. "Yeah but then people would start asking questions..." he then realized what he just said. "N-Not that-that w-would be a bad thing! Is what I mean..." Gage's face was as red as Ruby's Hood. Yang let out a small, awkward laugh. "Need some water shady?" She asked. "Not you too..." he replied.

Then, a red blur flashed behind Gage. It yelled, "WATCH OUT!" And knocked him over. Yang saw that the blur was Ruby, and she was on top of Gage, whose face was against the floor. "Dugh! Son of a-" his groans were muffled. Ruby was holding her head. "Ugh my head..." Gage muttered from under her, "my back..."

She pushed herself off of him, "sorry, these halls are really small..." she then looked up and to the right, "What do you know... room number 7"

Yang opened the door as Gage and Ruby started to get up. Gage looked through the door and saw two bunk beds and a desk. He immediately sprinted through the door, and threw himself onto the bottom bed that was on the left. He grabbed one of the pillows and held it close. "Oh pillow, I've missed you so much." He tightened his grip, and felt a piece of paper on the other side of the pillow. Gage opened his eyes and saw that it was a class schedule. "Ugh classes, its gonna be a pain in the ass to find them." He closed his eyes as Ruby started to speak. "Especially if you're a second year student..."

Gage Interrupted her, "Actually, I asked to be a first year." He knew she was going to ask why, so he answered her quickly. "I want to have the full experience you know?" But that wasn't the real reason why. "Oh, well then you can follow us! All first years have the same classes!" Ruby yelled.

Yang started to speak. "Uhh, I think you're laying on your uniform." Gage then rolled over and saw a black suit jacket, a tie, a vest, a white vest shirt, and some suit pants which were neatly folded, and placed under him. "Pfft, seriously?" He asked. "Its not that bad..." Yang replied.

Gage yawned and covered his mouth. "We can leave if you want..." Ruby said. Gage remembered that he was going to show them what tree riding was. "No no, I made a promise, and i'm going to keep it." He then got up, opened the door, and walked out. "Come on, it'll be dark soon."

The group of now four were at the entrance of the Emerald forest. Gage was riding Green Bean and was trying to find an adjacent line of tree branches, while Ruby and Yang followed from behind. "I think I found one!" Gage yelled. "Finally! my feet are killing me!" Yang replied. Gage looked up and saw a line of tree branches that lead to a colossal, v shaped tree.

He rode next to it, and knocked on its trunk. "Okay girl, this is the stopping point." Green Bean responded by nodding her head. He rode back to the other side of the treeline. "Okay here we go!" He then whipped Bean's harness, and started to ride towards the lowest tree branch. As Gage got closer, he took his feet out of Green Bean's riding irons and tried to stay balanced on the horse's saddle.

He jumped off of Green bean and landed on one of the tree branches with both of his feet. Gage quickly looked in front of him, and saw two more branches that were elevated. He quickly used them to launch himself over the gap between the branches and the v shaped tree, But he did not notice the third branch which was above the other two behind him. The branch clotheslined him and caused him to fall to the ground. "Aw fuck me!" He yelled.

Yang started to laugh hysterically, while Ruby tried to help Gage up. "You okay?" Ruby asked. He checked to see if his nose was bleeding, but it wasn't. "Yeah..." He turned to Yang, who was still laughing. "Hahaha! Im sorry! But you can't expect me to not laugh!"

Gage whistled, and Green Bean returned to him. "You're going to try again?" Ruby asked. He dusted some dirt off of his pants. "Well, practice makes perfect!" Gage then mounted the horse and tried again.

He got to the low tree branches. "One!" He stepped on the first, "Two!" Then the second, "THREE!" he launched himself again, but this time he used both of his hands to grab the third branch, and swung himself to the v shaped tree. He grabbed onto both ends of the v, and hoisted himself up. Green Bean was on the ground and was approaching the tree.

Gage jumped off of the tree, and landed on Green Bean's saddle as she passed the tree. "And that's tree riding!" He yelled. Ruby whispered to Yang, "Wait till he meets Sun!"

Gage turned Green Bean around as Ruby felt a cold gust of wind brush against her face. "Gage hurry up! Its getting kind of cold." She put her red hood up.

Gage looked back at the v shaped tree, and saw that there was a higher place that he could have climbed to. "Gage?" Ruby asked.

"Okay! Just let me try one more time!"

He was approaching the first branch, so he jumped onto it and tried to move quickly as he jumped to the second branch, and swung away from the third. Gage was at the v again, so he looked up and to the left where he saw another v that he could use as a vantage point. "Come on! You have to go higher!" He said to himself. He then climbed onto a diagonal branch to the right of him, pushed himself off of it, and turned around quickly so he could grab onto the second v incline.

Gage got up and basked in awe at what he saw. He was above the treeline, and Beacon lied in the distance as the sun started to set over Remnant. Gage lowered his hood and thought about everything that has happened to him in the last two days.

"Maybe this is my second chance..."

"Gage! Hurry up! Its getting dark!" Yang yelled. Gage looked down and saw that she was turned around. "Heh, payback time Yang!" He thought.

"Where are you?!" She asked. Yang heard someone whistle from behind her. She turned around and saw Gage who was hanging upside down from a tree branch. "BOO!"

Yang screamed and immediately punched Gage right in the face.


	10. Revelation

**Author's Note:** Just going to say that the next 2 chapters are going to switch between Gage's and team RWBY's pov(mostly Yang's) a lot, so there might be a few weird transitions. This is going to be a long and CRUCIAL chapter, So here it is!

Gage was looking out the window as snowflakes began to fall outside. "Gage! come here for a sec!" Gage put on a long sleeved shirt, and got off of his bed. "Okay dad!" He left his room and walked into the living room where his dad was about to leave for a week long trip. "What is it?" Gage asked. "Here." He handed Gage a box that was wrapped with red and green wrapping paper. "Christmas is next week, dad." His dad shook the box, "I know, but I just wanted to give you something before I leave." Gage frowned sadly when he remembered that his dad was leaving. Gaigus looked at his son. "Don't worry, i'll be back in time for Christmas."

"Here, If I know my son, you're going to open at least one present while i'm gone." Gaigus shook the box again. Gage smiled, took the box, ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside it was a Sage leather jacket. "I remembered that when you were a kid, you always wanted one." His dad said. Gage immediately put it on, and buttoned its collar. "Aww! Its so warm!" He yelled. His dad laughed.

"Okay, now... what are you going to do for food?" Gaigus asked. "Im 17 dad, i think i can take care of myself for a week. Besides, I have a job. Ill get some fast food or groceries... or something." Gage answered. "And how are you going to get home from your job? I'm taking the car remember." Gaigus asked. "I'll take the bus again." Gage smiled, "Like we use to." His dad put on a parka, and his glasses. "You're taking a parka? It rarely snows in forever falls." Gage said.

"I don't want to freeze to death before I get there, do I?" Gaigus looked out their dining room window and saw that it was snowing. "Hey, if you shovel the snow out of the driveway, i'll make some of mom's gingerbread cookies." Gage looked at the star on their christmas tree. "Do you even know where the recipe is?" He asked his dad. "Eh, we'll find it..."

Gaigus checked his scroll, and saw that he had to be there in 20 minutes. "Shit. I've got to go. You know the Schnees, they'll kill you if you're late." He put a beanie on and opened his arms. "Come on, come give your dad a hug!"

Gage sauntered over to his dad and hugged him. "Don't you think i'm a little too old for this?" He asked. Gaigus patted Gage's back,

"Heh, one more year, and you'll be hugging your first girlfriend." He muttered. "Shut up dad..."

Gaigus let go and started to open the door.

"Don't open anymore presents until I get back, got it?"

"Got it."

Gage watched his dad as he closed their front door.

"I'll see you in a week!"

Gage woke up from his dream as he felt water being poured on his head. "*cough* *cough* What the hell?!" He got up and looked behind him. Green Bean was there, and she was holding the handle of a bucket, that Gage found, in her mouth. "*sigh* Was I freaking out again?" He asked the horse. She responded by nodding her head. "Thanks, Beanie." He then petted her.

Gage thought about the dream he just had.

"Its not even that time of the year yet..."

Gage pulled out his scroll and saw that it was 6:00 am, he fell asleep at 5:00. "1 hour, new record." It was almost another restless night for Gage, since Green Bean wouldn't sleep.

Gage felt a burning sensation on his left cheek. "Ow! What the-" He then Remembered that was where Yang punched him yesterday, and it left a burning bruise. "Oh yeah..." Green Bean started braying happily, and it sounded like she was laughing. "Whatever, I still won." Gage added.

He heard his stomach growl.

"Ruby said breakfast starts at six." He got up and took the bucket from Green Bean. "I'll get you something too."

He took one step, and stepped on something squishy. Gage turned around and glared at his horse. "BEANIE! YOU DID NOT!" He yelled. Green Bean sat down and looked away from Gage. He looked at the bottom of his shoe, and there was horse poop on it. "Okay, Next on the shopping list: Another bucket." He grabbed Beanie's water bucket, so he could refill it, and hopped towards the bathroom. "You're lucky there's toilet paper in here."

He exited the old locker rooms and wiped most of the excrement on the grass that was outside. "The breakfast better be good here."

He started to walk towards the lunchroom as the sun began to come up.

Gage was eating a breakfast burrito, and he had a bag full of vegetables for Green Bean. He was on his scroll, looking for a heater and some farming materials on Rbay. "Let's see, the heater was 90 lien, shipping was 10." Gage was now looking at a hay bale that was being sold. "120?! For some hay?!"

He checked to see if there were any other listings, but there wasn't. "*sigh* She better be happy..." He then pressed on the 'Buy now' icon.

Gage exited the web browser on his scroll, and put it away. He grabbed his food tray, and the bag, and was about to get up, but someone pushed him back down.

"Hey buddy."

Gage recognized that voice... it was the student Yang told him about, Cardin Winchester. "What do you want?" Gage asked sternly. "I couldn't help but notice that you were sitting here, by yourself." Then three other students sat down in front of Gage.

Cardin pointed to them, "This is Dove, Russell, and Sky." Gage gave them a look of despair. Cardin smiled, "Since your new, i'll go easy on you and let you join our group." Gage tilted his head towards Cardin. "Thanks for the offer, but I already have some friends." Cardin and his goons moved closer towards Gage.

"So you're going to ditch us for that blonde bimbo?"

Gage snapped. "Listen here, bitch. Yang is my friend, and I take care of my friends, because I know they would do the same for me."

He stomped on Cardin's foot and rubbed the remaining horse excrement on top of the bully's shoe. "But you could never do anything like that, since you always have your thumb up your ass."

Gage grabbed his veggie bag, and got up.

"I cant wait to find an excuse to beat your ass." He started to walk away.

Cardin looked down and saw the brown stain on his shoe. "IS THAT SHIT?!" He looked up and saw that Gage was walking away. He was about to charge towards Gage, but his teammates were holding him back. "YOU JUST MADE THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE! YOU HEAR ME ASSWIPE?!"

Gage couldn't help but laugh a little bit as he left the lunchroom.

Gage was back at the old locker room's doors.

He entered, and Green Bean was waiting behind the door. "I'm only stopping by for a little bit." She immediately tried to grab the bag Gage was holding.

He walked next to one of the benches, so Green Bean sat down next to it like a dog.

"Okay! Hold on!" He set the bag on the bench and pulled a paper plate out of it. Green Beanie brayed loudly. "*sigh* Yes, I got your favorite." Gage reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of yes, green beans.

He placed them on the plate, and Green Bean dug in. Gage took an apple out of the bag and bit into it. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner, I was ordering some stuff for you, and i ran into those wild assholes I told you about."

He put some carrots on the plate, but then Green Bean looked at Gage and grunted. "What? They were making fun of Yang _in front of me._ You can't expect me not to do something..." Beanie tilted her head and winked at Gage.

Gage took another bite of his apple, "Hey! Its not like that! Sure she's kinda hot but..." His face was red again. Beanie nudged her water bucket to him. "Ugh women..."

Gage stood up and took the poncho off of Green Bean. He then unzipped one of the horse's saddle bags, pulled out some folded clothes, and put the poncho in the bag. "Okay, i'm going to take a shower, and i'm going to go out to get some school supplies."

Beanie grunted sadly as Gage walked towards the exit. "It'll only be for a couple of hours. Don't worry."

Gage entered his dorm room, and walked to his bed. He tried to fix his bed, and when he did, he turned around and saw an open door that was next to the bathroom door. There was a washer and dryer inside it. "YES!" He yelled. Gage placed the folded clothes on his bed and walked to laundry hook up.

On top of the washer was a basket of small soap pouches which were labeled 'softener'.

"Thank god." Gage immediately took off all his clothes, put them inside the machine, put a softener pouch under the clothes, and started the washing cycle.

Since he was now completely naked, Gage stepped into the bathroom. He looked at bathroom sink and saw a collection of shampoo bottles.

He grabbed a bottle of body wash and shampoo, and turned on the shower.

Gage stepped inside it and closed the shower curtain.

Gage felt the hot water run through his hair, and down his back. "Ah god dammit!"

It felt like his back was burning. "I thought i stitched those.." he forgot that he still had Grimm scars on his back. Gage backed up and let the water hit his face, which calmed him. "Ah, its been too long."

Team RWBY were walking in the streets of Vale, shopping. "What's next on the list?" Ruby asked. Yang had a piece of paper in her hands. "The food for that party next week."

She answered. Weiss spoke up as she pulled a small mirror out of her purse, "I'm so glad that we finally get some sort of break." Ruby laughed. "No, You're just glad Neptune's going!" Weiss blushed, "Shut up you dolt..."

"Blake, are you and Sun going?" Yang asked. "Since he won't stop asking me, yes." She answered. "Hey Yang... maybe you should ask Gage to go..." Ruby muttered. Yang pointed in front of them "Oh-Uh t-theres the supermarket." she then started to walk faster towards it.

They entered the store, and Ruby grabbed a shopping cart. "Whats first?" She asked. Yang looked at the list, "Uh...chips and dip." Weiss interrupted her, "Who asked for it?" Yang looked at the list again, "Jaune, Sun, and Neptune." She answered. Ruby looked up and saw a sign which said, 'snack aisle' and it was pointing to the left. "Down there!" Ruby yelled.

The team walked down the aisle until they found the chips. "What type?" Blake asked asked. Ruby stepped away from the cart and looked at the selection of chips. "Here! tortilla, cheese puffs, and potato chips!" She pulled three bags off of the shelves, and put them inside the shopping cart. Yang walked to the cart and put two jars in it. She then stood in front of Blake and held a yellow chip bag in front of her. "Hey Blake, you should get these for Sun!" Blake read the text on the bag, and sighed when she saw that it said, 'Banana chips'. She grabbed the bag and put it in their cart. "Thats still not funny, Yang..."

Yang looked at the list while Weiss read the food labels on the chip bags. "Guys, these aren't really... healthy." Yang turned to her, "Well, these aren't just for you, and its a party, you're not suppose to eat healthy." Weiss groaned and put the bags back in the cart.

"Okay next is... cookies. From Pyrrha, Nora, and Ruby." Yang said. Ruby lit up with joy, "Ooh! Yang! Can I-" Yang finished her sister's sentence. "Yes, but get two different types."

Ruby beamed out of the aisle with her semblance, and re-appeared seconds later with four containers of cookies. "Got it!" She yelled. "What type?" Blake asked. "Choco chip, and Oreos!" Ruby answered. "Well, You and Nora are going to be happy." Weiss said. Yang looked down at their list again. "Okay! Next is... Soda, obviously." Ruby pointed in the air, "TO THE COLD DRINKS!"

Ruby was the first to get to the coolers, while her teammates followed from behind her. "Not so fast Ruby!" Weiss whined as Yang and Blake were panting. "I just want to get home so I can see Zwei!" Ruby yelled. She looked down the aisle, and saw a man looking at a six pack of beer. "Yang, come here for a sec."

Yang walked towards her sister, still panting. "Okay, Weiss, Blake, you guys pick out the drinks." She now stood next to Ruby. "What is it Rubes?" She asked. Ruby pointed down the aisle.

"Is that Gage?"

Yang looked at the man. He had brown hair, he was holding an ice pack against his left cheek, and he had black backpack on his back, which said, "Beacon Academy" on it. Yang smiled, "Only one way to find out!" She then cupped her hands around her mouth. "HEY SHADY!"

The man turned around, and Yang saw a sage bandana that was wrapped around his right arm. "Yup, thats him." Yang answered.

Gage put the pack of beer inside his cart and started to approach team RWBY. "heh, I was wondering what that red flash was." He said.

Yang looked at Gage, his hair and skin actually looked clean, but he looked and sounded like he was tired. "What are you doing here?" Ruby asked. "I asked Ozpin if i can start my classes on Friday, and he said yes, so im getting some school stuff." he answered. "Then why are you buying alcohol?" Blake interrupted. "Yeah. Why don't you just go to bar?" Weiss added. "First off: because I can. Second, like to be alone when i drink, and i don't really like the whole 'bar scene'." Gage answered.

Yang saw that Gage was wearing a black Achievement hunter tank top, and that it showed off his chest and biceps. "Don't you think thats a little too revealing?" Weiss asked. Gage chuckled, "What? See something you like?" He then saw that Yang was staring at him, and that her cheeks were bright red, "Because I know Yang does." He added. Yang's hair started to glow. "What?! No! I-uh-"

He turned back to Ruby, "So why are you four here?" He asked. "We and some of our friends are having a little get together on Monday, so we're getting some snacks for it." She answered. "A party? on a Monday? Kinda weird, but then again, what am I talking about? I've never really been to one." Gage said. Ruby walked back next to Yang, "Great!" She nudged her sister's shoulder. "Yang!" She whispered.

"Oh, uh do you want to come with me- us! Do you want to come with us?!" She asked awkwardly. Gage took off his backpack and put it in his cart. He spoke, but he sounded a little... depressed. "Sure, i'm probably not going to be doing anything anyway."

"So are we done here?" Weiss asked sternly as she put three bottles of soda in their cart. "Can it Weiss!" Ruby whispered while gritting her teeth. Gage signaled Blake, "Blake come here."

She walked towards Gage, and he pointed inside his shopping cart. "Is there anything im missing for school?" He asked. Blake looked inside the cart and saw an assortment of items such as, pencils, binders, a huge notebook, clothes, shaving cream, razors, the six pack of beer, a dartboard, and a bucket, but no books. "You need a reading book." Blake uttered.

"Well, I don't know what's best selling right now, so can you recommend one for me?" Gage asked. Blake smiled, "Sure, lucky for you, I've been here before." Weiss started to push Blake forwards. "Then lets get a move on!" Weiss yelled. Ruby and Gage followed them while Yang tried to calm herself. Gage turned and smiled slightly, "Need some water sweetheart?" He asked. Yang raised her infinity scarf over her face so Gage wouldn't see her start blushing again. "Don't make me punch you again." She whispered.

Team RWBY and Gage were walking towards the book/novel aisle, "Okay Blake, surprise me." Gage said as he pointed down the aisle.

Blake sprang into action, and searched through the bestseller shelves. In less than a minute, Blake came back with a small leather book that had a small red string of nylon as a book mark. "Here, it's one of my favorites."

She handed Gage the book, and he looked at it's cover, which was titled,

Intertwined: A Collector's tale

"What's it about?" Gage asked. Blake smiled, "It's about a man, a 'collector', that has two souls, and both are fighting for the control of his mind." Gage put the book inside his cart. "Sounds pretty hardcore." He said.

Gage turned and immediately froze, "Oh my god." he whispered. He was looking at a huge, white book with a detailed stick figure on it. "Its been forever!" He screamed. Blake read the title of it. "Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures?" She asked. "It's called RTAA." Ruby muttered. Gage opened it and started to read it. "Isn't that a children's book?" Weiss asked. Gage chuckled as he turned the book's pages. "No, this is a comic, and trust me, this is NOT for kids!" He answered. "How many volumes are in it?!" Ruby asked as she got behind Gage. "Eighteen! And I've only read six of them!" He answered. Yang lowered the book, "come on, you two can read it when we get home!" Ruby groaned while Gage closed the book.

Ruby walked to the rest of her team, but then she looked back at Gage, and noticed something. "Hey Gage, what are those red marks on your back?" Yang looked at his back, and saw there were three, red diagonal claw marks that were partially blocked by the tank top Gage was wearing. He started to talk, but it looked like he was distracted.

"I was out there for a year. You can't expect me to come out unscathed."

All of team RWBY stopped. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were about to bombard Gage with questions, but since his back was turned, Yang jumped in front of her team and mouthed, "DON'T ASK! DON'T FUCKING ASK!" Which stopped them. "What is with him?" Yang thought.

Gage couldn't think straight. He was focused on the scene in front of him. there was a family of three, and the parents were trying to buy their son a reading book. "Mom! I hate books!" The child whined. The mother took a book from one of the shelves. "I hate them too, but you need to learn to read." The child groaned as his father took his hand. "Come on, we'll get you some ice cream." He said.

Gage smiled, "Heh, I know how you feel kid..." he thought about how his life use to be like that, and how he wished it could have stayed that way...

"Gage. Gage!" Weiss yelled. He snapped out of it and turned around. "What? What? What is it?" Gage asked. Yang spoke up, "Are you okay? You seem a little... out of it." Gage rubbed his eyes, "I'm fine, I just... I didn't get a lot sleep last night..."

"Uh, Is there anything else you need to get?" Ruby asked awkwardly. "Yeah, I... need to get some medicine." he answered.

The group walked towards the pharmacy, but Weiss made Yang stay in the back so she could question her. "You knew?! Why didn't you tell us?!" The heiress whispered. Yang gritted her teeth, "He asked me to NOT tell anyone!" Weiss continued, "Do you even know why?!" Blake turned around, "Weiss, stop. He's right in front of us remember?! You can interrogate Yang when we get home." She whispered.

Gage turned and walked into the pharmaceutical aisle, and scanned the shelves, until he found what he was looking for. "This is my last resort. If these don't work, I don't know what will." He thought. Gage grabbed a box of sleeping pills, and quickly turned, but Ruby was right in front of him."What are those?"she asked. "Oh just... allergy pills." Gage quickly tossed the pill box over Ruby and into his cart. "Okay, im done. Lets go." Gage grabbed, and started to push his cart to the checkout aisle.

When they arrived, Gage let team RWBY go first into the checkout aisle, since they had more items.

Yang passed the groceries down while the female cashier scanned them. "That will be... 70 lien." She said. "Weiss, im out. Do you have enough?" Yang asked. "Hold on..." Weiss rummaged through her purse, and found her money, but she didn't have enough. "No, not enough."

"What?! I thought you were rich Weiss!" Ruby yelled. "Well I don't keep it all on me!" Weiss replied. Gage pulled a silver card out of his pocket and held it in front of her.

"I'll pay for it... if I can add a few of my things" He said. Weiss started to speak, "You don't need to..." Gage stopped her. "I owe you guys a lot more than this. Besides, Ozpin needs to check my receipt and I don't think beer and comics will make me look responsible."

He handed the card to the cashier, and put his beer, dartboard, and bucket with Team RWBY's items. "How do you even have any money?" Weiss asked. "I had a job back in Atlas, and my dad would always pressure me to save my money, so I did." Yang interrupted him, "Wait wait wait! You had a job?! In Atlas?!" She asked. Gage nodded. "What'd you do?" Ruby asked. Gage scratched the back of his head, "I uhh... worked at the CCT."

"I thought the A.I. ran that place..." Weiss said. Gage shrugged, "Someone's got to fix their computers." He replied. Ruby spoke from behind them, "A.I... What's the A-" Gage, Blake, and Weiss quickly answered, "Artificial Intelligence."

The cashier handed Gage his card, but Yang saw that it had an old photo of him on it, "Ooh!" so she quickly swiped it from him.

"Hey!" Gage yelled. Yang looked at the photo. Gage had the same hair style, but he was wearing glasses, and his face wasn't as scruffy as it was now, instead he had a small,light stubble on his chin. "Heh, you actually look... sophisticated." she said. Weiss laughed, "Yeah, what happened to that?"

"Is there anything else you would like to purchase sir?" The cashier asked. "Yes, one moment." Gage answered. He took his card back from Yang, passed down the rest of his items, and handed the cashier a coupon.

Gage passed down a pack of razors, and a can of shaving cream. Yang cupped Gage's chin, "Aw you're going to shave it?" She asked. "I thought you said I looked sophisticated without it..." he said while smiling. Yang smiled and patted his cheek, "Yeah, but... _I_ think you look better with it." Gage lowered her hand, and grabbed his shopping bags. He walked next to Ruby and whispered, "told you they love it."

"Here are your receipts." The cashier handed a receipt to Gage and team RWBY. Gage then turned back to his friends as he started to walk towards the store exit. "You guys heading back to beacon? Because, the next airship leaves in twenty minutes."

"We'll be right behind you!" Ruby yelled.

Gage was walking down the airstation sidewalk while team RWBY was following him. He gazed at all the buildings that surrounded him, as they were blocking his view of the sun. "This place has changed alot." Its been five years since Gage left Vale, so Its been five years since his 'reality check'.

Gage heard two men yell from behind him, "HEY! STOP HIM! HE'S WITH THE WHITE FANG!" Gage turned around, and saw a man push through his friends. "Gage! Look out!" Yang yelled.

Gage dropped his bags and charged towards the man. The man held a red, curved sword, and brought the blade above his head so he could strike Gage, but Gage acted quickly and grabbed the sword's handle. He then headbutted the thug, and struck his face with the butt of the sword, which knocked him on the ground. "You're not going anywhere, motherfucker." Gage said.

Gage held the blade in his hands, and had it pointed at the man's neck. Gage could end the criminal's life right here, and he was tempted to, but then he looked at his friends and thought, "What would they think of me? A murderer, or a monster? Probably both." He then looked at Yang and remembered what she said to him that night, back at mount Glenn, "You know… i don't care what you think about yourself…. you're not some 'Gaged' Animal..." Gage lightly chuckled, and lowered the sword.

The two men grabbed, and apprehended the criminal. "We don't get payed enough for this!" One of the men said. Gage looked at him and saw that he was wearing a police badge. Gage tossed the sword on the ground, "You two shouldn't be getting paid at all if you're letting others do your job for you!" He looked at team RWBY and pointed to an airship as it began to land. "Come on, airship's here."

Gage stayed silent for the whole trip home, but Ruby started to talk to him as they walked back into Beacon's campus. "You're pretty good at fighting..." Gage tightened his bandana, "My mom trained me to be ready for anything, and any type of situation. Whether it's against Grim, or someone who wants to hurt me. And it's helped. a lot."

"Have you ever had to fight, to protect yourself?" Blake asked. "When i went to Sanctum..." Gage choked up a little bit on the inside. "I was a smart kid, but i never really talked much... so I never had a lot of friends around... and some people thought I was different because of that." He heavily sighed, and his breath was shaking, "So yeah, I had to fight. Just to get by. But sometimes... heh, sometimes I helped others, who couldn't help themselves."

Gage started to physically choke up now. "God damn it. *sniffle* Get yourself together man. *sniffle* You're a mess." He felt Ruby hug him from behind, "it's okay, We've all been there before. Besides, things are different now. You have us, and so many other people that you haven't even met yet." Yang put her hand on his shoulder, "Yeah! Hey, listen, we were about to meet some of our friends in the lunchroom, want to come with us?" She asked. Gage caught his breath and nodded, "Okay." Weiss spoke from behind them, "But get dressed first!"

Yang, Weiss, and Blake were inside the lunchroom, and they were waiting for Gage and Ruby. "So Weiss, has your opinion about Gage changed?" Blake asked. Weiss sighed, "After what i've learned today... Yes." Yang laughed, "Thats a first."

Ruby dashed through the lunchroom, and sat down next to Blake. Gage walked into room, and he was wearing his regular outfit, "Christ, Ruby, how did you not spill it?" Ruby and Gage were both holding mugs. "Whatcha drinking?" Yang asked. Gage sat down next to Yang, "Hot cocoa! Gage made me some!" Ruby yelled. "Yup, Helps me relax, and stay sober!" Gage said as he took a sip from his mug.

Then, a blue haired student sat down in front of Weiss. "Hey snowangel." He said. Weiss blushed, and he turned to Gage, "Who are you?" He asked. Yang quickly answered, "He's that guy we found out by Glenn." The student saw that Gage was wearing a hood, "Oh, so you're that shady kid everyone's been talking about!" Gage smiled, "Damn, that traveled fast."

"Eh, don't worry about it, once you show them what you're made of, the names will stop." The student looked at Gage's shotgun, "Oh yeah, and cool shotgun by the way." Gage looked at the student's weapon that was on his back, and saw that it was using an energy canister as a magazine, and a power supply, "Thanks, nice... lazer gun."

"Actually, its an high impact, chargeable, fusion rifle-" Then, a blonde haired student slid across the bench and lightly pushed the other student. "Jeez dude, don't bore him to death!" He shouted. He tºhen turned to Gage, "So you're the one who wiped that shit stain on Cardin's shoe!"

Gage awkwardly laughed and tried to look away from Yang, "Heh heh Yup thats me..." The blonde student laughed, "Ha! Way to send a message!" he pointed to himself, and the blue haired student, "Heh. Im Sun, and this is Neptune. Nice to meet you." Sun offered Gage a fist bump, so he accepted it. "Thanks, my name's Gage."

"Sorry if my nerdy friend was putting you to sleep." Neptune glared at Sun, "Intellectual!" He yelled.

Gage drank from his mug as a red haired girl sat down in front of him. "Why Hello! You must new!" She held out her her hand, so Gage shook it, but as he started to let go, he looked into her eyes. "Red hair, and green eyes... is she... oh my god." Gage thought he recognized her, but he needed to be sure.

"Wait a second, are you... Pyrrha Nikos?"

"Why yes, yes I am. Who are you?" She asked. Gage pulled his hood down, "Uh, you probably don't remember me, but we use to go to Sanctum together..." Pyrrha thought for a moment, "hmm..."

"Oh! Here, remember this?" Gage pointed at his bandana and tugged on it. Pyrrha's eyes lit up with happiness, "WAIT! GAGE?!"

Gage put down his mug and opened up his arms, "In the flesh!" He yelled.

Pyrrha leaned across the table and hugged him, "Oh my gosh! It's been forever!" Gage laughed, "I know!"

"Wait! You two know each other?!" Team RWBY yelled. "Hell yeah!" Gage replied. Pyrrha broke the hug and looked at her old friend, "You've grown so much!" She yelled. Gage laughed again, "Well, you haven't changed a bit!"

"So you're the one they found outside Vale?" Pyrrha asked. "Yeah... ill tell you about that later." Gage smiled and sat down, "So Pyrrha, what's your teams name? You are the leader right?" He asked.

Pyrrha smiled, "No. Actually-" then, two boys, and a girl sat down next to her, but the closest boy was a blonde student with white armor, "Actually, that would be me, Jaune Arc." He said. Gage laughed at his entrance, "Well 'Jaune', why don't you introduce me to the rest of your team?" Jaune pointed to the other boy, who had long black hair with a small pink bang next to his left eye. "Oh, uh, Thats Ren." Ren raised his hand in response. Jaune then he pointed to the girl, who had orange short hair, and she had the same eye color as Gage, turquoise. What Gage didn't know was that she was staring at him since the moment she sat down. "And thats N-" she then jumped up and finished Jaune's sentence.

"NORA!"

She leaned across the table and stared at Gage closely, "You're that new mysterious guy! Well, some people called you shady, but I don't know what that means, so I call you mysterious because...well, you look mysterious. AND I LIKE IT!"

Gage backed up a little bit, "Heh, Thanks. Um, quick question, how much coffee have you had today?" He asked. Ren quickly answered, "She doesn't like coffee, thats just how she is."

Nora looked at Gage's mug, "Is that what you're drinking?" She asked. Gage started to hand Nora the drink, "Try it and find out." He said. "Okay" she replied.

Everyone immediately jumped up from the table and yelled, "NOOO!"

Weiss knocked the mug out of Gage's hand, and pointed at Nora, "NO! NO TREATS FOR YOU NORA!"

Nora and Gage both groaned, "Aww what the fuck! I just made that..." he said. Gage grabbed his mug, and tried to clean up the mess, "You're lucky my mug didn't break..."

Gage got up and started to walk away, "I guess ill go make some more..." Then Pyrrha got up, "Gage, meet us in the arena! I want to see what you can do!" Gage gave a thumbs up in response, so everyone got up and started to exit the room.

They were now outside, but Yang started to walk towards the Vale dorms. "Yang! You coming?" Ruby asked. Yang stretched her arms and yawned, "No, im gonna go get some sleep before Weiss can 'interrogate' me." Ruby waved at Yang, "Okay! well, goodnight!"

Yang waved back and continued to walk away.

Yang entered their team's dorm, and immediately, Zwei started to bark."I'll get your food Zwei, just give me a second!"

Yang opened her desk drawer and pulled out a can of dog food and a can opener. "Here boy" She opened the can and handed the dog his food.

Yang then walked next to her bed and started to change into her pajamas, "Now Zwei, you're going to have to distract Weiss so I can sleep, Okay?" Zwei looked up from his food at nodded at Yang. "Good boy!" She then climbed onto her top bunk, and slowly started to fall asleep.

Hours passed. It was now after midnight. Yang still remained asleep, until...

Yang's eyes suddenly re-opened as she heard thunder roll through the clouds that lied above her roof. "Ugh." She looked across their room and saw that, surprisingly, Ruby was still asleep in her bed. Yang looked down and saw that Weiss was asleep, and that Zwei was on her bed. She could hear snoring from under her bed so she knew Blake was asleep."Why me?" Yang thought.

She then felt the urge to go to the bathroom, so she quietly hopped down from her bed and walked towards it.

When Yang was finished, she came out, and was about to go back to sleep, but then she felt a cold gust of wind brush against her body. She looked at their dorm's window and saw that it was open. Yang quietly groaned and walked towards it.

As she got closer, Yang began to hear rain falling outside.

She now stood in front of the window, and was about to close it, until she looked at the tree that was right outside their window.

There was someone sitting on the tree's branch. They had their back against the tree's trunk and their arms were crossed. Yang saw that the person was wearing a hood, so she knew who it was.

**Yang**: "Gage?"

He turned and faced her.

**Gage**: "Okay, before you say anything, I just want to clarify that my dorm room's window is at the bottom of this tree."

**Yang**: "Okay... Uh, What are you doing?"

**Gage**: "Couldn't sleep... I thought this would help."

**Yang**: "No, I mean... why are you sitting in the tree... it's cold... and raining..."

**Gage**: "Back when I was... _out there_... I never stayed in the city... I was always in the forest, and when I couldn't sleep, i'd look for the biggest tree I could find, and climb it. When I reached the top, i'd sit down, look up at the moon, and just... think."

**Yang: "**About what?"

**Gage: **"What I could be doing... what the White Fang are doing... what my parents would be doing..."

**Yang**: "...Where are your parents anyway? From what you've told me, they must care a lot about you... so wouldn't they be worried sick about you?"

**Gage: **"...They're not with us anymore..."

Gage pulled his hood down and moved his legs so that his knees were against his chest and he turned away from her.

**Yang**: "O-oh my god! Im so sorry! I-I didn't-"

**Gage**: "Its okay Yang. You didn't know. It had to come out anyway... you can always try to hide things like that, but in the end... you just can't. You never can..."

Yang saw Gage's body tighten.

**Yang**: "Do...*sniffle* do you want to talk about it?"

**Gage: **"No. If I do right now, then i'm never going to fall asleep."

Gage saw that Yang's eyes were watering

**Gage**: "You should probably go to sleep. You have classes tomorrow remember..."

**Yang**: "Okay..."

Yang reached for the window's doors, and was about to close them, but she stopped herself.

**Yang**: "Gage, I just want to let you know that I...I care about you. Okay? So... if you ever need a friend... i'm never far behind."

Gage smiled and nodded in response.

**Yang**: Okay... *sniffle* goodnight Gage.

**Gage**: Goodnight Yang.

Yang smiled and closed the window.

Gage turned and looked at the shattered moon as rain drops fell around him.

**Gage**: I know you're not behind me Yang. You're standing right here. Right next to me.


	11. Miscontrued

**Authors note: **just letting you guys know, i'm going to start using a new writing there's a part of a chapter where multiple character's names are in **bold, **its suppose to during some important, Funny, or concerning moments between them. Just putting that out there . Oh yeah! And going to start titling my stuff! Plz review and enjoy!

Yang stared at the window frame for the rest of the night until her eyes grew tired, so she drifted back into sleep.

Hours later, she re-awoke to the sound of her scroll's alarm blaring from under her pillow. "Ugghhhh!" She groaned as she reached for her scroll.

Yang turned off the alarm, and looked at her scroll again. She received a new text message. It was from Gage. "Went 2 Vale 2 clear my mind & get stuff. Don't worry about me. Good luck w/ Classes." It said.

She desperately wanted to say 'i'm sorry' to Gage, but she didn't want to remind him about their encounter from last night. Yang heavily sighed and replied, "Okay. Thank you." To him.

She let out another sigh, and started to lower herself from her bunk bed. "Jeez Yang. I know you hate class, but you don't need to sound so depressed about it..." Ruby muttered from across the room. Yang shrugged off her sister's remark, and entered the bathroom.

Yang turned on the shower, and began to undress herself.

As she removed her tank top, Yang quickly glanced at herself in the bathroom mirror. She stared into her own eyes, and saw that her irises were red, but she didn't know why.

Yang then angrily turned around and entered the shower.

After she closed the shower curtains, Yang covered her breasts and felt the water to see if it was hot enough.

It felt sufficient, so she let the hot water flow through her golden hair, and over her naked body. She stared at the shower drain, and tried to think about what she was feeling.

Yang covered her face with her hands and groaned as she sat down, inside the bathtub. She now knew what she was feeling.

She was feeling guilty.

It was her fault Gage revealed his secret to her. And she thought that this could change him, and the way he felt about her. All because she opened her mouth.

Yang held her legs close to her chest, and buried her face into her knees. "Why did you have to ask..."

Classes went by slowly for Yang, mostly because she was trying to avoid Weiss, who constantly tried to question her about Gage. All Yang wanted right now was for Weiss to leave her alone, and to tell Gage that she was sorry.

Lucky for her, Neptune asked Weiss on a date, so Yang could hopefully finish her school work, and plan her apology.

She was now roaming through Beacon's halls with Ruby and Blake, as it was currently raining outside.

"Oobleck took forever to explain those battle strategies." Blake whined. "I know, I mean, they're almost as old as he is. Who knew it would take that long to explain them?" Ruby replied. Her and Blake started to laugh while Yang remained silent. Blake noticed this and decided to bring up something she knew Yang would be excited about. "Well, im just glad that tomorrow's friday."

"Yeah..." Yang said, nonchalantly.

Ruby quickly caught on and could tell something was bothering her sister since she wasn't acting as cheerful as usual.

**Ruby: **"Are... you okay Yang? You did get some sleep last night right?"

**Yang: **"Yes, I did"

**Blake: **"Then what's wrong?"

Yang couldn't take the pressure anymore.

**Yang: **"...Can you guys keep a secret? And I mean MAJOR secret. No one can know. Not even Weiss."

Ruby dashed next to Blake and crossed her arms. She then tried to match Blake's height.

**Ruby:** "Come on Yang! Its us you're talking about!"

**Yang: **"*sigh* ...It's just...Gage. He's-"

**Ruby: **"Does he not like you or something?"

Ruby's question was soon answered as she saw her sister's eye color change to red.

**Yang: **"No! That's not it!"

**Blake: **"Then what is it? He seemed happy yesterday."

Yang didn't want to tell them that Gage was an orphan, it was too soon. So she tried to think of something else to say.

**Yang: **"Back at Glenn, when we were in that hotel room, I woke up in the middle of the night and i saw Gage sitting next to that hole in the wall, and he was crying. He stopped before he noticed I was awake, so I didn't ask about it. Instead, I asked him why he was awake..."

"He told me that he's been awake for almost a month."

"And then, last night... he was sitting in that tree outside our window. He said that he couldn't sleep, and he thought it would help..."

Ruby and Blake saw Yang clench her fists.

**Yang: **"And, you guys... I want to help him! But I don't know if theres something... wrong with him!"

Blake thought for a moment. "hmmm..."

But in the end, she could only think of one possible answer.

**Blake: "**Maybe he has insomnia."

**Ruby: **"What's that?"

**Blake: **"It's a psychological disorder, where your mind won't let you sleep or stay asleep. And if the subject's condition is really bad... it can induce nightmares."

**Ruby: **"That's scary."

**Yang: **"What causes something like that?"

**Blake: **"Small cases are usually caused by things your parents tell you not to do before bed. Eat candy, drink too much caffeine, being on your scroll a lot, Et Cetera."

"But extreme cases, _like his, _are mostly caused by long-term sadness, or depression."

Yang's thoughts scattered. "Sadness and... depression?!" she then remembered the rest of that night. Gage was looking at a photo, and he was crying. "It... must have been them in it. His parents."

She felt her stomach tighten

"Then he's...he's still mourning them."

"And I made it worse."

She then thought back to the name of the disorder that Blake just told her about. "Insomnia... I remember that. I read about people with that... when they had it for a long time they always ended up... SUICIDAL!"

She then remembered pieces of the text Gage sent her earlier that morning.

"Went to clear my mind. Don't worry about me. Good luck."

Yang started to breathe heavily, and she felt like she was about to cry.

**Yang:** "Blake... I just... need to help him."

She then started to walk away, but Blake stopped her.

**Blake: "**Yang, wait. Just... give it a week or two. Maybe this new atmosphere will change his condition."

Yang grasped her stomach

**Yang:** "AND IF IT DOESN'T?!"

**Blake: **"Then he's all yours."

Ruby noticed her sister's breathing had escalated and she started to sweat.

**Ruby: "**Yang! Are feeling ok? You look like you're going to throw up!"

Yang yanked on her school tie, and inhaled deeply.

**Yang: **"N-No. I...I think I need to... go lay down, so uh, c-cover for me, okay sis?"

**Ruby: "**Okay."

**Yang: **"I'll uh... see you guys later..."

Yang slowly continued down the hall until she found a set of double doors which led to one of the outer courtyards.

Once she made it out, she made a mad dash out into the rain.

She saw this as an opportunity to go Vale and look for Gage, so she rushed through the rain, and towards their dorm building. "I've got to get out of my school uniform, so they'll let me on an airship!"

She tried to think about how she could find Gage. "He drinks! Maybe he could be in a bar! And even if he isn't, Junior still owes me. Maybe he can track Gage's scroll signal or... or something!"

Thinking about his scroll, she pulled hers out and started to text him,

"Gage"

"Talk to me"

"Please"

Yang saw that her messages were sent, but they weren't read yet.

"Listen"

"Please, don't do anything stupid"

She reached the building's main door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"FUCK!"

She quickly ran to the other side and reached the building's back entrance.

She tried to open it but yet again, it did not budge. She looked at the door again and saw a sign that said 'all dorms are off-limits during classes'.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

She started to punch the door, but it's glass would not crack. Yang shattered instead. "Fuck..."

She curled up against the door and pulled her scroll out to make one last and desperate attempt.

She tried to call him.

It rung twice and went to his voicemail.

"Hey, it's Gage. If i'm not answering then i'm either drunk, asleep, or uh... in class. Anyway, if I know you leave a message."

Yang lowered her scroll and began to sob. She thought that voicemail was going to be the last was going to be the last time she would hear Gage's voice.

She raised her scroll to her mouth and tried to talk as tears and rain drops rolled down her cheeks,

"Gage. Im sorry...Im so sorry... just, please don't do it. Don't leave me hanging. Because If you do... how am I going live with the guilt? Ever since Glenn, I made a promise to myself. That i'd help you recover. That no matter what, i'd be there for you... What do you think i'd do if I found out that it was my fault that you died? Just, talk to me. I can help you through this. I...I can you give reasons to keep on living. H-Here's a good one... everyone thinks i'm obsessed with you...but I don't give a shit because...

Gage I...I..I lov-"

"Stop whining beanie, we're almost there!"

Yang quietly gasped and looked out into field in front of her, as she heard hooves clacking against the wet grass. she saw Green Bean trotting towards her barn, and she was pulling some sort of cart with a rain tarp over it. There was someone riding her.

Green bean stopped next to the barn, and the rider dismounted her.

Yang deleted the voicemail and ended her call. She began to slowly walk towards the two, fearing that they were just a mirage.

The rider unbuckled the horse from her cart, and opened the barn's doors.

Beanie entered, and the rider followed her inside.

Yang stood at the door and looked inside.

**Gage: "**Hey Yang! What are you doing out there?! You could catch a cold!"

He pulled her inside and closed one of the doors. Yang was still silent.

"Sit here, ill turn on the heater!"

He sat her down on a bench and he tried to reach for something on top of one of the old lockers.

"Beanie! Blanket!"

Yang felt something warm wrap around her body.

She then heard something crash onto the ground next to her, which snapped her out of her trance.

**Gage: **"Dammit! Beanie, get the toolbox!"

Green Bean laid the tool box on the bench and grunted.

**Gage: **"Screwdriver. Oh, uh flathead please."

Green Bean held the screw driver in her mouth, and dropped it in front of Gage.

He then patted her snout, "Thank you Beanie!"

**Yang**: "...Thank you."

**Gage**: "No problem. What were you doing out there?"

**Yang**: "I...wasn't feeling good...so I was going to go home...but then I saw you."

Gage put the fallen object on the bench.

**Yang: **"Where did you go anyway?"

Then, Green Bean dragged a small hay bale through the doorway.

**Gage: **"To get that and...*sigh* I need your opinion on this..."

He pulled a small and black glasses case out of his jacket pocket.

He put the glasses on and faced Yang.

**Gage: **"So? What do you think?"

Yang smiled slightly.

**Yang: **"You look nice, but you'd look a lot better if you were wearing your school clothes."

Gage let out a small groan, placed his screwdriver between his teeth, and put the object back on the locker.

He quickly glanced back at Yang when she wasn't looking.

Water droplets lined her golden locks, and her face, which had a smile on it.

He looked at the lower part of her body.

The only part of her that wasn't covered by the blanket was her legs, and her skirt.

He smiled deviously when he saw the pale skin on her thighs, which was the only thing separating her skirt and her leggings.

**Gage: **"Okay. As long as I get to see you in _that _everyday."

She turned back around.

**Yang:** "Sorry. What was that?"

**Gage: **"Nothing..."

He then turned on the heater.

**Gage: **"There we go!"

...

...

**Yang: **"So... are you okay... after what happened last night?"

Gage took the screwdriver out of his mouth, pulled his hood down, and sat down next to her.

**Gage: **"Yeah... like I said, it had to come out eventually... and I know I can't change it...but im okay Yang. Really."

He then saw her eyes were red.

**Gage:** "But are you okay? Because your eyes are bloodshot."

There then was a small moment of silence between them.

**Yang: **"No...no im not...I got scared when you said that you were going to 'clear your mind'..."

Gage chuckled slightly.

**Gage: **"Heh, what'd you think I was going to do? Kill myself?"

...

Yang growled as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She turned to Gage, and slapped him.

**Yang: **"YES YOU DUMBASS!"

Gage held his cheek and looked back at her with a frightened look.

**Gage: **"DID I SAY SOMETHING?!"

She got closer and continued to yell at him.

**Yang: **"GOOD LUCK?! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME?! YOU SAID THE SAME EXACT THING WHEN YOU TRIED TO LEAVE US BACK AT GLENN!"

Gage calmed down a little bit.

**Gage: **"...It's just a figure of spe-"

Yang's body collided with his, and she wrapped her arms around him.

**Yang: **"Just shutup you big idiot..."

She proceeded to bury her head into his shoulder, while he still stood there with his mouth opened slightly.

...

After a few minutes, Gage closed his mouth, and hugged her back.

**Gage:** "...So... no one else knows about this?"

**Yang**: "*sniffle*...No..."

**Gage: **"*sigh*...Listen...remember what Weiss called me when I first came here? A stray dog or something like that? Well...I am one, in a way...but you, and your friends... are housebreaking me. So im not going anywhere, Okay?"

**Yang: **"Okay..."

They both then heard Green Bean grunt annoyingly from behind them.

Yang giggled and pointed at the horse.

**Yang:** "I should go, because i think i'm making Beanie jealous."

**Gage: **"Okay...but take this."

He handed Yang an umbrella.

**Yang: **"Thank you."

She then started to walk out...

**Gage: **"Oh! Before you go, can you hand me that bucket that's next to you?"

Yang looked down and saw a small bucket of water, so she picked it up and started to walk back to him...

But, Green Bean saw this as a perfect moment to embarrass them, so she placed her hove in front of Yang's foot, causing her to stumble forwards, and towards Gage.

She closed her eyes as she crashed into him.

She re-opened them, and noticed that she was laying on top of Gage.

She looked down, and quietly gasped when she saw that the top button on her blouse had popped off, revealing her irresistible cleavage. She groaned and looked up to him, but to her relief, his view was blocked by the water bucket that was on his head.

Realizing this, Yang quickly 'closed the curtains', and removed the bucket from Gage's head

**Yang: **"Oh! S-Sorry! Sorry! I-I can be such a c-clutz someti-"

She took the bucket off of his head, and they immediately began to stare into each other's eyes. Yang became flustered with embarrassment, and her face was glowing red.

**Yang: **"I...I, uh..."

Gage started to speak, but he sounded like he was hurt.

**Gage: **"You know... this would be a lot less awkward if your knee wasn't crushing my testicles...please get off..."

**Yang: **"Wh-AHH!"

She backed off, and when she did, Gage groaned loudly, clutched his balls, and fell to the floor.

**Yang: **"W-What happened to your c-crotch plate?!"

Gage's voice became quieter, and more high-pitched.

**Gage: **"It gets uncomfortable after a while..."

Yang picked up her umbrella and started to back away.

**Yang: **"Well, uh, i-i'm gonna g-go, so i'll see you at lunch o-or something!"

**Gage: **"Okay...i'll just...lay here...for a while..."

**Yang: **"B-Bye!"

He heard Yang run outside, without opening her umbrella.

Green Bean let out a happy little grunt that sounded like laughter.

**Gage**: "Shut up Beanie...I know it was you...don't deny it..."


End file.
